The Rain Riders

BLOGGING ABOUT WHATEVER

ENTRY - 9

TITLE: The Rain Riders

AUTHOUR: J. William Bell

DATE POSTED: 2025-07-10

Believe it or not, I have had some meaningful interactions with therapists; and I also have a Life Coach. While I do have a deep down distrust of therapists, because; they are also mortal and therefore prone to error, I cannot just disregard them. Sometimes, they do provide some helpful advice; or at the very least: The illusion of friendship.

So, based on their advice, and the passionate encouragement of my Life Coach; whom we'll refer to as LC from this point on; I have been inspired to write about a happy memory. Because, happy memories really do give you a reason to live your life better. You might even get to enjoy the real-world-equivalent of a ^Happily Ever After^ -- while still being fully dressed.

When my Father went through his mid-life crisis; he didn't waste money on plastic surgery, he didn't invest in a superfluous sports car, and thankfully, he didn't cheat on my Mom. Instead, he decided to invest in a motorcycle; like the kind he had always wanted when he was a teenager. In hindsight, he should have invested his money into college funds for his five children; but my dear old Dad was obviously not a financial genius.

I have memories of my Dad's circle of friends becoming more colourful; and weekends spent at gatherings which had plenty of motorcycles at them, and involved a bunch of middle-aged guys who were married with kids, or who were dating childless women their age or younger. Plenty of barbecue was being eaten at these assemblies, and cold beer being drank; and my Mother made it painfully clear to her five all-under-the-age-of-nineteen children, as well as her husband, that underage drinking was not going to be tolerated in this family. And I mostly have to agree with her, then and now; finding out your tolerance for alcohol is something best done only when you're age of majourity; that way, you are more likely to survive your own stupidity.

Out of all of these memories, the most prominent and vivid is that one summer when my Dad decided I was going to go on a long road-trip with him, on his motorcycle, with some friends coming along on their own bikes. What none of us had expected when we made these travel plans as that particular summer was going to be a very wet summer. When most people think of Canada, especially Ontario, they picture pretty postcard-worthy images of winter wonderlands; in my particular neck of the mostly-figurative woods; August was usually the "rainy season," and on this particular year, Mother Nature did not disappoint!

It rained.

It rained most of the way from point A to point B; and it rained for about three-quarters of the way from point B back to point A. But I had fun! And so did those magnificent old farts that I was riding with. One of them even decided that we should have a proper name for ourselves; because a motorcycle gang traditionally should have a name; and so, he dubbed us:

THE RAIN RIDERS!

Fortunately and unfortunately, my love of motorcycles got demoted to a passing fancy during my teenage years; when I found out that my competence as a driver should begin and end with vehicles that have four wheels. But the motorcycle fever continued with one of my brothers. His passionate love for motorized two-wheel fun remains strong as of the time of this writing. And I am confident that he will do his best to pass on this love to his kids, as well as to our mutual nieces and nephews.

I wish him luck; he's going to need it.

Excelsior!