first mountain bike experience

For some unknown reason today I started thinking back to my very first Mountain bike experience, except in those days it was not referred to as mountain biking. I lived in Burlington Vermont when I was a young lad and as money was practically nonexistant, we(my2 older brothers and myself) needed to come up with creative ways to raise money to go to the movies. I was 7 years old and the year was 1961. SO, my oldest brother came up with ingenious plan to bike over to golf course and help golphers find their lost golf balls.(or so I thought)Actually what we would do, is watch people play and if the ball went out of their sight we would swipe them, tell them we found it at the edge of the woods and sell them back to them for the bargain price of 5 cents per ball. This little enterprise would net us fifty cents or so very quickly and we could proceed to the local movie house where we would help our fellowman(15-20 kids) get into the movies for a single ticket purchase.(another whole story in itself)SO, after having reached the purchase price for the movies, my brother and I proceeded to bike downtown to the theatre. You must understand however that we only had one bike in the family. (remember how I said money was scarce)Therefore my brother Mike would be at the controls of this marvelous machine and I would happily ride on the handle bars.As we pulled out of the golf course we had to make our descent down a long mountain road(The beginning of mountain biking). The trip turned into the thrill of a lifetime however as part way down the mountain at full throttle(what else)the operator of this bike informed me that we no longer had any brakes.There were no exits to take off this machine so one could only pray to God for mercy. Being only 7 years old however, I chose the screaming at the top of my lungs approach. As we approached the end of our runway I remembered that we would be traveling thru a 5 way intersection and the chances of living to tell our parents about this was somewhere between nil and next to none. Evidently the screaming approached that I took worked, because somehow above the honking horns,screeching brakes, profanity, and all out lung busting screams to look out, God heard me and miraculously brought us thru the intersection alive and unharmed. After all the motorists were done yelling at us stupid kids, we got off our bike and walked it all the way home.We had had enough"mountain biking" for one day. Funny, mountain biking is my favorite pastime to do with my wife. Nothing however will top my very first experience

Appreciation

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Scotland, and to Gettysburg Penn., here in the U.S. I was struck by the courage and devotion shown by the people in these nations in particular situations. I have watched the films,and read books about Gettysburg and Braveheart many times and never fail to marvel at the selfless attitude displayed by these soldiers. Also apparent is that these men have decided running away is not an option and the fear of death has been conquered. It is also apparent that they believe in the common goal of the nation and their fellowman more than what they can gain for themselves as individuals. I feel that is the way it should be in our marriages and families as well. Running should not be an option, and the fear of dying to ourselves needs to conquered. When we get married we say that the 2 become as one, and the only way to do that is to lay down your life to your mate. Do we really understand what we are saying when we recite our vows. Do we really mean it. In the film Gettysburg, Colonel Chamberlain told the men of the 2nd Maine that men fight for all kinds of reasons,but in the end they are fighting for each other. Oh that men and women, but especially men would realize that

in the end, we are fighting for each other and our families. A young boy once looked admiringly at a gunslinger and made the statement that his father would never do that and was a coward. The gunslinger paddled the boys behind and told him that his father was the bravest man he ever knew.Why? asked the boy. Because he stayed with his wife and family, got up everyday, went to the fields,and worked as hard as he could and layed down his life for the good of the family. True courage and devotion. We could use a little more of that today.