Remembering August 1983

Because I am thinking a lot about an upcoming "date with memories", I need to write to express what that means to me. 27 years ago (shortly after July 4) I met a very unusual man named John E Johnson. I was in a good place at that time. I had a great job with a great company. I was single and enjoying it very much. I was buying a mobile home in Berthoud, Colorado. I felt really good about myself. I had no reason to go looking for a permanent relationship. But then I met John and for a short time just played with the idea of a relationship of any kind -- sort of like a beginner plays with dynamite to see what it does.

We had a good time talking, walking, philosophizing, becoming friends, etc etc etc. You get the picture. Then one evening he called and said he was coming over to Berthoud to see me. I didn't think that was anything that monumental -- until I heard a loud, throaty noise coming slowly down 2nd Street in Berthoud. I looked out as the noise stopped in front of my house. There he was, a biker, in his biker clothes, riding his 1942 Harley Knucklehead.

All of a sudden a casual, nothing serious, take it or leave it, friendship became something more. Hmmmm this was a very interesting picture. Never, in my wildest dreams, would I have ever seen myself climbing on a Harley behind a big burly biker. But, that evening, before I knew it, I WAS. This was a risky, exciting, colorful, experience for me, and I said to myself, "You better take another look at this guy."

Later he told me that he finally had to reveal his "biker" side so I would know exactly what he was about. He had sort of been pretending to be "normal" and he had to come clean.

On September 27 we were married and began a volatile, never boring, marriage that was for the next ten years centered on our Harleys and all that goes with it. I bought and learned to ride my own Harley Superglide. Notice I said buying before riding. Yes, I bought my Harley before I could even ride it. John had to bring it home from, John's Harley Shop in Fort Collins, as I didn't know how. It was a definite incentive to learn!!

The learning experience was not smooth sailing, but I did learn. After many trips out to the Dog Track parking lot on I-25 and much emotion and down right fear, I finally mastered it. The one thing I knew was that no matter what predicament I got myself into, John could get me out of it. He was big, strong and unafraid. That's a pretty nice insurance policy for a short legged Harley rider.

As I think about this time of year, I need to reflect on an idea I once read about. It was in "Illusions" by Richard Bach. Something on the order of people coming into our life when we need them and vice versa. They may not stay long, but they are there for a specific reason -- that we need them and they need us at that special time in space. We are sort of like magnets and we attract the people we need at the time. They - or we - may move on to another world or experience, but they were here at the right time.

That's the way I feel tonight. I feel I was in the right place at the right time to experience John with all of his faults and so many more of his good qualities. Smooth and quiet and normal? Never. But I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Can you tell? I miss my friend and compatriot and co-conspiritor this evening. Writing in this blog is the best therapy in the world for me, so please bear with me. I'm not so much sad, but, more feeling grateful for my memories.

If you have a special person in your life just take a quiet moment and realize that you are truly blessed. patj