Random and Odd

Taking Name Suggestions…

Yesterday was the busiest day of my life.
I spent hours driving back and forth from one place to another.
Not any place in particular. Just here. Then there. Then back here.
At 7pm I pulled up in front of my house and forgot that I was at the wrong house.

As you can see there is a new member to our crazy family. Since she hasn’t named herself yet, we are calling her, “Dan’s stupid mid-life crisis” or “Kara’s key to being the coolest kid in High School for being dropped off in front of school on a motorcycle”

Dan and I met in 1990. He was riding his Kawasaki 900 Ninja (like Maverick’s in Top Gun). He rode the hell out of that bike for many years until It got ripped off in front of our apartment in Sacramento.
He spent a long time trying to get it back into running condition, but it was never the same after he got it back, completely demolished.
I had no problem with him no longer riding the bike because we had kids and the thought of him getting in a wreck, made me a wreck.
Sometimes I would hear him start in the garage, testing it to see if it still ran, and I would run out there to see him smiling and covered in grease.
“Turn it off!” I would beg.
“Listen to that. I think all it needs is…” and he would name off a list of parts he would go buy.

I hadn’t thought about him being on a bike for many years. He mentioned wanting to get a new one, but I just brushed it off as a whim.
His whim became a reality the other night.

We were sitting in his truck the night before last and he was talking to his friend, Mike. They were talking about bikes on Craig’s List.
After 2 hours of sitting in the truck he had convinced me that he was going to get this certain bike.

I drove him down to Sacramento last night to pick it up. All the way there I was killing him with the rules of having a motorcycle.
1. The little girls, DO NOT GET TO RIDE IT.
2. No going fast.
3. No dodging through traffic.
4. ALWAYS use your blinker.
5. No going fast.
6. NO KIDS ON THE BIKE.
7. Please be very careful.
8. Please rethink this.
9. Don’t buy the bike.
10. PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!

When he pulled up in front of the house and I saw the bike, It took my breath away. I am not a big motorcycle fan. They don’t do a damn thing for me. When I was 18 it was cool. At 35 and 5 kids later…I would rather keep myself in a car within a bubble of reinforced titanium that no one can penetrate at any rate of speed.
This bike though, beautiful.

I have to admit when he mentioned wanting a motorcycle again, I could only see how stupid he would look on one. He didn’t look stupid at all. He looked very comfortable and, dear God, he looked HAPPY.
That’s really all that matters (right now) is that he is happy. It won’t matter later when I get a call from the emergency room asking if I could go pick up his ankles and elbows off the freeway.

The type of bike is called a ‘Mean Streak’ and it’s Red. Any name suggestions?