Wheels

I have a new porch rail. Love. It.

What do you see?

Mmmm hmmm... the obvious to begin with. Bike wheels. Yep. That they are. The tie to cycling is absolutely there and the perfect place to start as it's been a piece of who I am for more years than I can remember. Memories of happy times, feeling exhausted yet SO alive, pushing through pain and finding that new burst of energy, seeing breathtaking views and sights that took me in, consuming me much more than driving past and witnessing. My bike has been my vehicle at many times in my life. From simple commutes to the store, to work, to a friend's, to a few weeks spent cycling around Vermont carrying our tents & sleeping bags & supplies in panniers and knowing what it feels like to go 3mph up a mountain pass, weighted only by a few necessities & powered only by the energy contained within. Oh My God was that an amazing trip of sun, warmth, hail, snow, rain, beers, laughs, kindness, and winging life completely. Such joy. To the Colorado ride where I swore I was insane to keep going, knees aching unimaginably each morning as we climbed a minimum of one mountain pass a day and my entire psyche was just trashed and dimmed. Yet I finished. And oddly now think, meh... maybe I should try that again (wtf??? nooooooooooo). So many fantastic rides. And then also... pain. fear. more pain. a horrendous head-splitting time & the ahhhh shot to the skull. a few nights wondering if i was going to wake in the morning as I felt the oozing of my brain (seriously... grossest thing ever. ever.) as it healed (thank God). This, too, is cycling. And the wheels represent all of this. The good and the bad. It's a part of my life. A part of who I am. A part of what's made my body strong and lithe. A part of what's kept my brain (relatively) sane. An outlet. A goal. An achievement. And my friend.

We're conceived, we live, we die, we go back to the earth. And for something else, the cycle starts all over again. Over and over. Which is also how we are in life. What i do, what i say, these things are very rarely only a part of my little world. Like the spokes on the wheel, everything is connected. I may not always realize how pieces of me impact others, or the result can also be right in front of me, but regardless, we're all connected in some way. Sharing the air we breathe, the water we drink & that makes up the majority of our bodies, the soil on which some of us tread lightly and others trash to holy hell. We're all part of something much larger and on it goes.

And motion. Wheels are motion just as life is a constantly evolving, dynamic, fluid continuum. Rolling forward, backwards, sometimes standing still, but always there's the inevitable movement again. They're a vehicle to assist us in our path of life and will easily roll over rocks and boulders and all kinds of obstacles. But beware the muck as here we can get stuck. Beware standing in one place for too long as the repetition can wear away the foundation and carve a deep trench. Move on. In some way, always move on.

Wheels also have a center, that if knocked out of balance causes us to sit up and take stock. And it's ok. Feel it for a while. Maybe the center has shifted. Maybe a little more weight is needed here to relieve the tension from somewhere else. And just as truing a wheel puts it back in balance, we also strive to find what is true for ourselves and find our center.

How beautiful that wheels are a continual circle with neither a beginning nor an ending. They are eternity, unity, wholeness, perfection, connection. How I love connection. The edge around the circle is also a boundary. Boundaries are good, necessary really, but they should guide, protect, and keep us safe vs being restrictive, unyielding, or finite.

And so we should allow ourselves the freedom to travel and explore with a boundary of safety as we rebalance our lives and find what's true in our center. To find this endless connection with ourselves and all other beings. To know that when we feel stuck, finding a bit of stillness, then standing in the open and waiting for the gentlest of breezes to move us in a new direction may be all that's needed to take us to places we'd have never imagined otherwise. The world is open and it is ours in which to play. Hop on & let it roll.