The kids went back to school this week so my dh wisely took another week of holidays so we could recuperate from our family holidays. We never travel in the winter, and considering the lousy weather everywhere this Christmas, and our son's need for hospitalization over New Year's - we were right to stay home and stay warm.
Today we took to the highway and went into the next city where we played our favourite game of "window shopping". Now, I've learned over the 18 years of being married to this man, that "window shopping" will eventually mean "buying something" two, three, or four years down the road...but today we had fun going to the Ducatti and Harley-Davidson Dealerships and sitting on everything that struck our fancy.
I've had three dreams for most of my adult life: learn to ride a motorcycle (which also entails owning my own and it being a Harley), learning to ballroom dance and doing a mean Tango before I turn 50, and taking my family on a long road trip in an RV.
Well, I should've bought the motorcycle back when I was a cop, because dh wanted to spend this past summer just hitting the highway for his own stress relief - plus we can't afford two bikes now anyway. He's afraid I'm too out of shape, not enough reflexes etc. to learn to ride one in middle age, cough, cough. As for ballroom dancing, I've bugged him every fall and winter for 12 years and he always refused. Now I have osteoporosis in my 3 lowest lumbar joints and right hip. (hmmm...might be a problem with the bike too...) He said in my Xmas present that he was signing us up for lessons and had left messages at the dance school, but no one's called back and he hasn't called them so far this week. Hmmmm.....time to play detective with the phone book?
As for the RVing with the kids, well, I've gone camping with them for five summers in a row and last summer they went to a two week overnight camp. We've always had a sail boat or a motorcycle or a business to run so even to rent an RV has been out of our range. (not that I'm complaining about the sail boat...)
It's funny, this thing about middle age. Both men and women go through it. But it's the grey-haired men you see out there in their Corvettes, convertibles, motorcycles, sail boats, Jet Skis, or what have you. Ladies, never quit your day jobs. I'm not even remotely grey-haired, and I can tell you that I find myself at the stage of life where I'll never be able to buy myself a large item I want, or rent a large item I want, or apparently, even go dancing. And I'm not even old enough to wear one of those Red Hats yet!
Middle age is all about realizing the dreams of what you wanted to do and somehow missed out on - the things you gave up for whatever reason. Somehow you have to find a way to either do them, find a substitute without breaking the bank, or dream up new dreams for the future.
And once in awhile, take a mental health day and go "window shopping" at a Harley-Davidson Dealership and remember when you were twenty-three years younger and you sat on the back of one and your hair blew in the wind out of your helmet as your boyfriend roared down the highway.
2 comments:
Maybe you can invent some new dreams--like warm beaches and fruity cocktails. I'm not sure about the bike thing. I've done the boyfriend bit and that pissed me off. I think I'd rather have a scooter--ever thought of that?
I found you via KOD. I thought I was too short/old/out of shape to ride a Harley too. I'd always wanted to ride, and in summer of 2005 decided I didn't want to look back on my life with regrets. I turned forty last May, and in July I got my Harley (Sportster 883 Low, the only one I can stand up on LOL). But I started out in fall 2005, on something smaller, that I didn't mind laying down and getting a few scratches on. Anyway, you should Go For It! Barring any major financial or health issues, don't let anyone tell you you can't.
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