Of Dust and Death

My motorcycle has been a bit lonely and dusty for the last week or so... :-(


Ok, I see it as horribly dusty (even though I can get thicker, more massive dust letting it sit during the day in our work parking lot), and I feel it a sad commentary on my last couple of weeks.  What kind of world is it, when a shiny, chromy motorcycle with a full-ish tank of gas must be ignored and allowed to gather dust?  Do you let your significant other sit and gather dust?  Does your puppy grow a dust-bunny fur coat?  No.  Maybe that’s why I feel so bad letting my bike down.  Granted it’s not an animate object; it’s nothing something that needs to be kept alive through physical and emotional feeding or anything.  So why do I sometimes feel the need to go out and speak soft, loving words to my dusty, lonely motorcycle?

I’ve been out of town and mentally out to work for over a week now as I’ve worked on and participated in a series of seminars for work.  Now a lot of work does go into them and it can seem kind of consuming.  I do enjoy getting to go out and speak; it can be a lot of fun for me.  Usually I am all but chained to my cubical at work.  Understandably, I can’t take my motorcycle everywhere, much like I can’t take my puppy everywhere, however that doesn’t stop me from thinking how much more fun the little road trip would be if I were on my bike and not toting extra gear for shows.

It’s been truly hot and steamy here for the last few weeks… and we can have 1-3 weeks of dark-sky Michigan rain, including waterfall like downpours.  Now, I’m not a wimp, but no motorcycle person wants to hang out or clean up after a soggy ride in the rain.  Oh, yeah, and it’s not all that safe either.  So why do I continue to feel compelled to go out between raindrops, under a heavy, darkly clouded sky, to apologize to my motorcycle for ignoring it over the last week or so?

Maybe, like my reflection in its dusty picture of perfection and denied love, I’m really venting my own unhappiness and denial of self.  Now, I don’t really consider myself a selfish person, but there are times when we need to take time to refresh ourselves, to feel the wind, the freedom, the love, and the pure exhilaration of the ride.  I guess it’s really me apologizing to myself for the lonely isolation that can occur when we get wrapped up in too many things.  I need to wipe my eyes, stop whining, and take a time out.  I did sneak in an extra quick ride along the lake, but then it was another week and all I saw was my reflection in the dust.  I think I just need to give myself a “time out", and then maybe I can stop apologizing and start appreciating me, my life, and my motorcycle again.

“Ride or Die”, I saw that somewhere and it could just be true.  For some of us that may be our time out of our boxes, a time to renew, feel, and rejuvenate.  Maybe we all need to stop and take a look at our reflection in the chrome and the dust and then do something about it.  Even if it means listening to “Singing in the Rain” while knocking the dust off of the bike, in the garage, whilst the heavens cry for our loss with us.  Just like the rainbow, there can be a chromy lining to our lives, and it sure can make things shiny!