No Way

I've been on the receiving end of a fairly frequent question for the last few weeks:

How did he get you to ride a motorcycle?

I find this amusing for various reasons - and also amusing that many of his friends are asking him the same thing. Here's the answer:

He didn't.

If you know me in any way, you likely know that someone pushing me or bugging me or mentioning to me that I should or shouldn't do something, will end up with me doing the opposite. I've never particularly liked being told what to do. (I really need to remember this with regard to the munchkins, considering the oldest one is me. With red hair.) And, if you know my husband in any way, you likely know that he does none of those things.

For awhile after I met him, it was hard for even me to figure out why I suddenly was interested in doing things I'd never done before and never, ever thought I would do. Things like shooting targets, driving a ginormous truck, changing the oil in my car, and - yes - taking a motorcycle safety class, quickly followed by obtaining my motorcycle license and buying my own bike. Which I'm, slowly but surely, learning to ride at my own pace.

So - why the change? Here's the real answer. I haven't changed. I'm still me. With a lot more depth. More interests. More things "to" me. Because I've been encouraged, at every step of the way, to decide for myself whether I want to do something. And if I think I don't - to ask why. What's the reason I think I can't do something. Or have never wanted to. I've found that if the answer is "because that's how it's always been" or "because I've never done that" or "because I don't want to", I usually do it next.

I mean, I'd never tried sushi. SUSHI! Until the last year. Or really given coffee a chance. These are little things, right? But little things lead to bigger things. When you have someone standing by your side who asks the right questions and encourages you to figure out the answers to why - it really is life-changing. Someone who pushes you without pushing. Is your biggest cheerleader on the stage called life. And does all of it for YOU. Not for some specific outcome. Not to gain a riding buddy.

No, my life is not perfect. Far from it. We have lots of challenges. We have a blended family, a new "hometown", and a military life (that, alone, would be enough). But we've figured out (or ARE figuring out) how to make it - us - work. This life - my life - I only get one shot. I want to give it the best one I've got. And I got the best partner I could have picked for that.

How did he get me to ride? He said, "You never know, you might like to ride your own bike someday. You think?"

My response? "No way."

So, to him, thanks for asking. :)