Story for Night Ride - Distance yourself from the draining fake and attach yourself to the energizing real.

As a divorced father the hardest night of the week is Saturday when my daughters go back to their mother. Hard not to feel depressed about it. A friend calls "Drinks, babes, you're in?" I'm not. The nights of numbing my pain are long gone. I embrace my pain. I have found a cure. I head out and it's cold and I feel the winds coming. Strong winds. I better descend to the valley quickly before I can come up with excuses about how dangerous these winds are. I make it to the valley and am overcome by a biting cold. Had I seen snow it would have put me at ease. I couldn't comprehend how cold it was. My legs were in deep pain from yesterday's 15 KM run but ironically the only thing that soothed the pain was pedaling at high cadence which was of great benefit for the climbing yet to come. No fog tonight, but since I had gone out at 11 PM there was considerable party going traffic. Climbing up Mt. Giora, a moth flew into me and I thought to myself how come I see them every night all year and butterflies are only seasonal and daylight creatures and I started to laugh. Who would have thought that at 33 years old I'd be climbing mountains at midnight in the fucking cold on a bicycle with such ease that I'd actually be thinking about moths and butterflies. I was overcome with this gratitude, knowing that I can't take this moment for granted. At the top the winds were crazy and kept repositioning my front wheel to the left which made it dangerous, especially with the passing youngsters who don't believe in keeping distance. I had to get off the mountain fast and not allow any cars to pass me as just one sidewind with a car next to me and I could face serious problems. I descended as fast as I could while still staying within the limit in case a fox or a jackal decided to jump in front of my wheels. Racing down, whistling at every corner, warning of my coming. Then I faced the same wind that helped me up the mountain head on, and made myself as small as possible, keeping myself as straight as possible. This wind could throw me into the railing, or over it like a plastic bag. And then it started to drizzle. And the more I approached the valley the more I felt that impossible cold again. And I thought to myself "I chose this? I could have been having drinks and flirting." And as I finally reached the valley in one piece, I was well impressed with myself. The frigate for the uniformed young cadets and the Night's Deceit for the lone pirate. You return home, sit back and your body hurts, you're beat, but your heart is gladdened you know everything is alright. Part of my pain is healed and within me lies a heart of fire and not stone. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26