Well, we did it!
Becky and I had a lot of fun “riding my age” on Tuesday. That doesn’t mean it was easy to do 72 miles on my 72nd birthday, but easy wasn’t the point.
We did a big loop around Loveland/Fort Collins and then a smaller loop around Fort Collins to finish the ride. We spent time talking about the purpose, about hope and freedom for kids rescued from human trafficking. Of course, Becky took lots of pictures as she always does.
And when we were finished, we were tired and happy and satisfied.
As I told you before, I wouldn’t do something like this if it was just about the miles. I left that kind of motivation behind a long time ago. But doing a birthday fundraiser, plus knowing we’re part of the HOPE & FREEDOM CHALLENGE which translates each of our miles into a dollar for our kids, makes the effort worthwhile for me.
So we raised some money and our miles became $144. And that’s kind of cool.
It also occurred to me that not every married couple could do something like this together. It required some trust for Becky to just toss out the idea last week. Takes a bit of communication to work through the inevitable tired, grumpy spots that arise on a long ride. And it demonstrates, I think, our sense of shared vision and values.
I’m grateful.
I’m also grateful for the surprise party and the decadent chocolate cake (thanks, Ellen) that showed up Tuesday evening.
All in all, a pretty good way celebrate trip #72 around the sun.
If you’d still like to get in on the birthday fun and support the kids at the Home of Hope: