I bought a motorcycle. A couple months back I bought a bike for the soul purpose of riding away from everything and starting a new life. A total redo.
Buying a motorcycle to do it on was kind of big deal as I’ve been afraid of them my entire life. Completely terrified. Utterly scared. I close my eyes and I see road rash and broken bones. I catch myself looking at motorcycle accidents on the internet.
My father was almost killed on a motorcycle when I was a child. Riding into work from our house in the stix to the Navy base. Early in the morning a distracted driver ran a stop sign and sent my father through a cement fence. He went to the hospital, jaw wired shut, sitting in wheel chairs wearing bathrobes.
Those are really the only memories I have of the guy. He left not to long after that. I was so small.
Something about the imminent uncertainty of death has kept me off of motorcycles for this long. I’m not sure why that has changed. Maybe I’m just tired of being afraid of them.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. – Helen Keller
Never the less. I’m still pretty scared.
