My Gift to Me

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On September 4th - my birthday - of this year, I bought a motorcycle.

20+ years after I first thought that maybe, just maybe, my parents would give me one for high school graduation (I got a typewriter.) 20+ years after I rode around my college campus on a friend's boyfriend's bike who'd decided to leave school and left her the task of selling it (I dropped it in front of a frat house).

20+ years later... I have my own motorcycle. A used, black 1996 250 Honda Nighthawk.

I took 2 days of motorcycle safety training in mid-September and almost a month later I was riding my own bike away from MotoJava, slightly awed and a little intimidated, that I was now an officially-licensed rider unleashed on the streets of San Francisco.

The first few days I had it I rode out to the ocean each night and back; rode the streets in the neighborhood; rode through Golden Gate Park. I was at a stoplight one time and 2 little boys were walking by with their dad when one of them looked up at me and waved. I felt like the Fonz in my black gloves and black helmet and I had the urge to give him the thumbs up and offer some nugget of wisdom like "Stay in school, kid." But I just waved back. I rode on the highway for a whopping 2 exits on 101 south last month, hitting about 65 and feeling a little shaky, but not unstable. My skills are getting better - more confident - with time.

I waited until Thanksgiving to tell most of my family - and to post anything about it here - thinking it would keep them from worrying until they could see it but all I got was disbelief that I'd waited so long to tell them. My mom was more worried when I told her I bought a surfboard. What the...?

This is the culmination of my 20+ year dream to own a motorcycle. Aaay!

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