Me on a 1941 vintage cruiser that I rode in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade the night before (photo courtesty of Charlie Gandy, our Mobility Coordinator who charmed me into two very fun outings).

I don't know about you, but I've forgotten about fun for a long long time.

Oh, I love my work, I love my clients, and my work can be very fun, but fun just for the purpose of fun, just hasn't been in my vocabulary much. And two things led me to realize how much I miss it. About a month ago I took myself off to our local art emporium to splurge on some art supplies - something I hadn't done in years. I wanted create some illustrations for my baby nephew Simon's bedroom (at the time he wasn't even born yet). I hadn't drawn in several years either. I had a marvelous time picking out paints and ink pens, and now I'm having an even more marvelous time putting together the illustrations (thank you to my sister for recommending that "bugs" would be a safe and creative item to draw for a boy's room).

The second thing I did lately that reminded me so much of past fun I want to bring into my life more was riding a bike. My friend Charlie cajoled me into going on a "vintage" bike ride with a group of vintage bike collectors called the "Cyclone Coasters". Going in I was a) afraid I might fall off and b) wouldn't be able to accomplish the whole ride (especially not as we were going to ride first in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade the night before).

And guess what? I did not fall off the bike (a beautiful '41 cruiser kindly provided by Bernard). And I didn't quite finish the entire bike ride. I made it almost the whole way, but bowed out when we were close to home because I could feel I was coming down with the flu. But the point is, it didn't matter. No body cared, and the most important thing is that I had such a good time! I had totally forgotten how much fun it is to ride a bike. How fun it is to feel the sun and the breeze on your face as you speed along seeing your landscape from a totally different perspective. I'm really fortunate that Long Beach is really beautiful by bike.