My 40th Birthday Present

So... today I turn 40.  I suppose I should have some kind of philosophical take on life, but I don't.

Over the weekend my brother and one of my sisters from the Twin Cities made a point to come down to help celebrate my milestone birthday.

We made our way to Happy Joes for some Taco and BLT pizzas.  Yes, they gave me a sundae and sang to me.  (Luckily at my age I don't get embarrassed very easily.)

Afterwards we were invited back to Mom's house for some cake and ice cream.  As cars pulled up everyone started migrating to the steps and up to the door before Mom insisted we all come down to the driveway for a quick family photo.

After the photo, they popped the garage door to surprise me with the gift of a motorcycle.

I used to ride but gave it up when my wife and I got pregnant with Jacob.  At the time I told my wife I would never forgive myself if I fell off and got hurt while we had a baby so it was easier to sell the bike and move on.

But I've always had the itch.

Many of my riding friends would cruise up on a cool summer day and it took me everything from pushing them off to steal their motorcycles.  I missed it a lot.

Luckily my brother Joe was keeping his eye out for me.  (He fixes up bikes for a living.)  When this one came through the shop he rallied the troops and they pooled the bucks to buy it for me.

So now I have the coolest birthday present ever... a 1996 '883' Sportster.  Better yet, the bike came with a book of personalized photos of all my family members sitting on the bike.

It was awesome.

Better yet, Joe and I went out for a cruise.  It was great.

While I don't know the specifics of how the bike was funded, I know a lot of folks contributed, so thanks to you all.

Also, honorable mention to my sister, Sarah, who complained to me that she's never the subject of any of my blog posts.  There you go, sis.

Happy birthday to me!

~CMF