I am quickly approaching the 1 year anniversary of my surgery. I had intended to have all of my thank you cards done by this point, but I am still working on them. I did have a big thank you to go out publicly and I get to tell a cute story along with it.
It's about how I basically gave up motorcycling when we decided to start a family, planning to retire on Honda Goldwings after the kids were gone. In the name of safety, and to ensure my presence for my children's sake, I even considered changing from glassblowing to a "safer" medium because the incidence of lung cancer is high. Then, after attending the American Grand Prix (car racing) at Indy, I was jazzed, and wanted to get back into motorcycling. I was torn by the selfishness of this concept and as I wandered the airport at Indianapolis, I was trying to come to terms with this, and found myself staring at a magazine which had a cover article on mothers with dangerous occupations (firefighters, etc.). I purchased this in-flight reading material and in a few hours I had a new outlook: All these mothers questioned their choices, but the premise of the article was that they would ultimately be denying their children if they denied themselves. I became determined to get a motorcycle, but only for the track, under controlled circumstanes. Two years passed, and no motorcycle - I could not justify the capital investment. My friend, Jim McClurg, took my passion for motorcycling seriously, and extended to me one of his BMW's and an afternoon taking me on a scenic ride. He was the first of my motor cycle angels, and helped fuel my determination.
Then I had the AN diagnosis: not lung cancer; not being smeared on asphault; how could I protect myself? I couldn't. I realized I had to live. Chris said buy the bike: first one I looked at on Craigslist. Trust the guy selling? Turns out his mother had a tumor removed 20 years earlier. Serendipitous. If you consider Chris supporting the expenditure as angel 2, then Sean Mclellan would be 3. He was upfront about the bike not running and assured me it was the float - $300 repair guesstimate. Next angel was Brian, at Brian's ATV - fixed it for $97. They had just finished building a 1.7 mile road track nearby, called Harris Hill Road that my husband had joined the year prior, and upon learning of my diagnosis the owner, Bo, and his SIL, Eric Beverding said free track time whenever (4,5). I would still need leathers, and I hovered on ebay (new leathers can cost more than I paid for the used bike). None small enough. Then, turns out a woman named Moira Zinn who runs Elite Trackdays, was in negotiations with the track to offer motorcycle track days at H2R, heard of my desire and loaned me some. One of her instructors, Jim? (7), noticed my air pressure in my back tire was low: Devine intervention on my behalf. My friend Maureen Costell had offered to provide child care (8), and I went motorcycling as fast as I could! This is the picture on my profile, taken by trackdays photographer, Michael Coker, where I was smiling as big as Dallas (9)! I had surgery 3 weeks later. I call every one along the way my personal "Make a Riders Wish Foundation"! I recently watched my daughter, who usually exercises exteme caution in everything she does, go bonzai down our drive on her bike (with a helmet/pads) and held my breath, hoping she wouldn't bite it as the terrain is extremeley rough and rocky. She made it, and circled around with a smile from ear to ear, and to my surprise, she did it again! It was then I knew she has too much dopamine, just like me...
All the Love and Life,
Julie