By Lulu

August was one of the most stressful months of my life and honestly the few miles of highway I was able to enjoy in Spearfish, South Dakota and riding out to the Stone House Saloon with friends was about the only saving grace. Sturgis is always bittersweet as Bull who was the man who brought me into the world of motorcycles never made it there. We were leaving on a Tuesday eight years ago and he died the Tuesday before we were to leave. Our bags were packed. I had a brick laid in the sidewalk there in his memory. A break up is never easy and when it is someone you simply still adore it makes it really tough. Add that to the list of August rain! I also missed out on my family’s yearly beach vacation for the first time in order to go to Sturgis. It was a huge price to pay for five weeks of hard work. Where I am going with all this is sometimes the choices you make or paths you choose end up having a huge cost that you don’t foresee. Spending five weeks in Sturgis…I lost out on the precious chance to see my sister’s face when she found out she was going to be a grandmother for the first time, missed snuggling up with the youngest of the offspring my brothers and sister have blessed the world with and missed spending hours watching the waves with my two sons and their 5 fantastic children. After 3 weeks in Sturgis the price of my trip to the motorcycle Mecca hit me hard and I longed to be in Pensacola with my family…that made it hard to just relax and enjoy the ride.

Having a casual affair with a boy from North Carolina during Bike Week 2014, turned into a romance that knocked me off my game. Kelly Clarkson sings in one of her hits off her Thankful CD “The trouble with love is: it can tear you up inside, make your heart believe a lie, it is stronger than your pride. The trouble with love is: it doesn’t care how fast you fall, you can’t refuse the call and you’ve got no say at all”… That pretty much sums up my summer trying to hold on to something that you know will never be, lying to myself that if I just don’t let go I may end up with what my heart wanted, but my mind knew I would never have. The reason I am airing this here is that we all make choices as we live, never stopping for one second to think of the consequence or cost. Blowing by a car on the wrong side on your Harley you could end up with broken bones that will haunt you the rest of your life. Drinking and getting behind a set of handlebars could end up with a devastating financial cost or much, much worse. Having a fight with your best friend can end up hurting you both and often it can be beyond repair; in the end neither of you will probably recall what the argument was even about. Falling in love with someone that isn’t available can happen before you ever realize it is too late!!

Once you make the choices and bear the price then the work becomes trying to forget the cost and focusing on the good in your bad choice. Sturgis it was new friends I made, laughs I shared even during tears of homesickness and, of course, the amazing feeling of flying down the highway with such incredible views. And for the heartbreak I am trying to get over it will be great memories of passion, pillow talks and feeling safe in the redneck’s arms.

Be careful of your choices, take a breath and think about the paths you embark on and no matter what live life as if today is the only day that matters…it may be the only one left.