Glory days
bringing the past back to life...
“Some days I wish I could go back to my childhood…not to change anything but to feel a few things twice.”
The revving of the engine..the smell of burning oil..plumes of blueish smoke billowing out of the exhaust pipe…push down on the gear shift lever…accelerate the throttle and off you go…
It's amazing how the sounds and smells of something take you back in time.
This week I went back to 1982. I had worked all summer unloading wagon after wagon of hay bales on our farm and I had earned at little over $600. It was a lot of physical labor but I was so excited to save up my money for my first, real purchase.
My intentions were to buy a three-wheeler but sadly, just a few weeks before the summer ended, one of my classmates was killed in a three-wheeler accident near her home. My parents decided that I would not be getting one of those vehicles.
It took a lot of convincing, my mother especially, that I could still get something smaller and safer. She saw how hard I had worked and how excited I was, so she gave in and we drove to the local recreational vehicle dealership in town.
I still remember riding my 1982 Kawasaki KV75 minibike for the first time - test driving it in a park across the street from the dealership. I also remember the salesman telling my father, “This bike should last for quite a few years…but seeing she’s a girl…it will probably last forever…Girls take much better care of things in general…”
Forty years later and that same bike sits in our garage. It has rust in places here and there but overall it has survived many adventures on trails I made around our farm, excursions up and down our gravel side road and most recently scooting around our backyard.
For several months my son and his friend asked me about working on restoring my minibike. I have reluctantly been putting it off. Honestly, I don’t know why.
The bike has been sitting in our garage for years now and the last time I rode it was probably at least fifteen years ago. The chain had become so loose that it kept falling off and it started to leak gasoline. So, like many things we used in our youth, it was assigned a corner and left there in peace - occasionally looked at and admired but never really used again.
Until this week…when my son and his friend decided, as an end-of-summer project, to take it apart and see what they could do.
After they had put it back together, added new oil and gasoline and stood looking at it, they asked me if I would start it. As I climbed onto the bike, something within me seemed to shift. The saying that you never forget how to ride a bike is very true. I kickstarted the bike and away I went…
As I drove up and down our street, I remembered a time in my life when the world, for me, was a much simpler place. In my mind’s eye, I felt like I was fourteen again and I felt pure joy…the joy I felt when I first test drove it in that park oh so many years ago…
When I pulled up into the driveway, my son told me that was the happiest he had seen me in a long time.
Maybe we all need to go back in time, every once in a while…reliving life’s more carefree days…and enjoying every moment while we’re doing it…
What do you think?
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Tranquil Moments…
I asked my niece, Jennifer Malphy, if she could share some of her nature photos with my newsletter audience. Each week I will feature a new photo. Here’s this week’s:
This week’s Smile Video
A Utah man decided to draw out a racetrack for his 4-year-old neighbor after noticing that the boy liked riding his bicycle in his driveway. Steve Hartman reports on this week's "On The Road."
#believe #stevehartman #smilevideos
How to Help Maui
The images of Maui are haunting me this week. Here are a few ways to help those dealing with the devastating fires there:
Hawaii Community Foundation - https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong
United Way - https://mauiunitedway.org/disasterrelief
Maui Food Bank - https://mauifoodbank.org/donate/
What I am reading…
This week I am reading the book Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry.
The Amazon summary is as follows: “Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer’s wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now—after a decade away—he has returned.
Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Perry figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.”
This book is gritty and raw. But with that comes a very realistic, almost poetic, description on small town life in Wisconsin from an EMT’s perspective.
Sharing Family Favorites…
Last month I shared a tribute to my mother entitled Love Made Visible. This week I am sharing another one of her recipes from her cookbook, along with a picture of Mom and I in our kitchen at our farm house.
This Week’s TED Talk - Helping Others
Sometimes the best way to find joy is by giving it away. Kate Barlow shares her insight in how one can find happiness with the simple act of helpfulness.
Interesting Thought…
Tá brón orm (pronounced toe-brone-urm) is Irish Celtic. In that language, one does not say, I am sad, but that, Sorrow is on me. The implication is that you are not fully identified with the emotion but that it is weighing on you and that with time all things change. Sometimes up, sometimes down, but that life is always in transition. Interesting thought…
From: https://bookofpain.wordpress.com/2022/08/11/ta-bron-orm/
Children’s Corner
Back in 1999, when I was an elementary school librarian, I started a project where I wrote letters (old fashioned, printed letters) to a variety of famous people. This was prior to the daily use of email and text messages. My questions were simple…
1) From your own life experiences, how has reading affected your life in a positive manner?
2) Was there any particular person or experience in your life that made you aware of the value of literature and the importance of reading?
I am going to share these letters and let you experience the joy many of my students (and myself) have gotten from their touching words - Here is this week’s:
Substack Selection
This week’s Substack selection is the newsletter The Books That Made Us - an exploration of the foundational books that shaped some of your favorite writers here on Substack. Every post is penned by a guest writer, each discussing a book that played a pivotal role in their life.
If you love literature, you should check it out!
Music Moments
Music inspires me in many ways. Lately I have been going back to the music of my youth. Here is one of my favorites:
Quote of the week
Until next week. Please remember…Begin and end each day with a grateful heart…and always, always be kind….