The Ride

T.S. Eliot had it wrong--September, not April, is the cruelest month.  The shitstorm that is my life for the 9 month of the year, between the kids going back to school, myself going back to school, my wife going back to school, is as demoralizing as it is debilitating.  I has never been easy, but for the last five years, I have had an annual reason to get over the pity party, my friend Kris.

Five years ago, when Kris was diagnosed with MS, I didn't know what to think.  After doing some research into the disease, I got worried.  Fortunately, Kris's response to medicine has been great thus far and his symptoms haven't progressed, but neither Kris, his family or friends wanted to sit around and do nothing to help.  As luck would have it, or so I thought before my first journey, MS sponsors an annual bike ride in the Ventura to Santa Barbara vicinity.  So, we did what we thought was right.  Kris bought a bike, asked me and several others to come along and we haven't looked back.  5 years and three bikes later, I'm still going on "the ride" with Kris and his ageless father, Ron.  Each year, I have felt a little more like a biker, a little less like a scared, out of shape friend who's in over his head.  I have had an annual reason to stay in reasonable shape, something anyone who knows me knows I need.  I have become closer with each passing year to a friend who ranks among my favorite people.  I have become more connected to Kris's family, who I look forward to seeing every year.  It has become an annual holiday, a day of action, national "getoffyourassandhelpafriendday".  Yesterday, as I rode with Kris and Ron and Julius and Faye and the always happy Mike, I thought of how lucky I am, to be able to help a friend, to be able to climb a mountain on a bike and to do it with my lovely wife and not to shabby children as my road crew.

When I was in the second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Shimatsu, gave me a certificate at the end of the year:  "Most likely to be happy-go-lucky".  In retrospect, she was probably insulting me as I hadn't exactly been an academic star in her class, but it didn't seem to bother me.  Whatever her reasons, she had it right.  My life has had its share of ups and downs, but I still feel lucky.  Lucky to have friends I want to help, lucky to have kids I still like, lucky to have a wife who actually likes me.  Thanks for another great year, Kris.  Some of my best memories have come on "the ride", at the Hollywood Bowl, at Karaoke.  You're one of the best and I'm proud to be on your team.