It beats the alternative – of that I am sure
by ray fales
What is keeping me from the alternative? It’s harder to hit a moving target, so I keep moving. I hope I’m not moving at night because sleep walking is so dangerous. Wait a minute – I live in a one-story house but I could stumble down the basement stairs.
I have stumbled a number of times, but it was always while I was moving. I skied in the 1950’s using wooden skis and bear trap bindings. I kept breaking skis so I purchased unbreakable skis and broke my leg. In the 1960’s I took up the luge (a small one and two person sled) and tore the ligaments in my knee. In the 1990’s skiing near the edge of a trail, I stumbled and broke my ankle and fractured my pelvis. By the way, these breaks were all on my left side. Does that mean I would be safer if I just hopped on my right leg during the winter?
Am I immune to summer time injuries? I have crashed a few times on my bicycle. I landed on my shoulders and injured my rotator cuffs, left side and right side. I now no longer have the left side jinx. I have landed on my head; was it the right side? Is that why I am less intuitive, thoughtful and subjective?
Seriously, I still keep moving. I have a pedometer that counts my steps and leg movements. I shoot for 10,000 steps a day. Many days I miss my mark. Today I only have 2,000 since I’m writing this article. I’ve had a bike for my last 60 years. I ride my bicycle several times a week, sometimes with the Niagara Frontier Bicycle Club. I get 10 miles per cup of coffee. All rides have one or more coffee shops along the way. I’m going to Croatia in October for a bike and boat ride. I have to learn how to say “How far to the coffee shop?’ in Croatian.
I can have coffee without riding my bike. Many Tuesdays I meet with a group at Spot Coffee to chat. It makes me a half hour late for my Habitat job where I volunteer at Buffalo Habitat for Humanity one or two times a week. We renovate and build houses for hardworking families. Asides from doing good, it is nice meeting and working with other guys.
I move my neurons by auditing courses at UB North and reading (books, papers and magazines).
The most important reason for staying away from the alternative is my lovely wife whom I have learned to love more. I hope to have many more years of loving left to do.
So my advice to all is: keep moving and if you find someone to love stay, and move together.
