Rosebud and Sneezing...

I've had an idea. I think from now on, I'm going to begin each post with a bit of information...for those of you who read this, so as to know my life a bit better...and for me, so as to track my life a bit better...

So, here we go...

* Current Read: 'Captivating, Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul' by John and Stasi Eldredge

* Newest Tune: The Great Lake Swimmers

* Currently Obsessing Over: My new sweatshirt (it's plum colored and I've worn it almost every day since I first layed eyes on it!) and not getting sick...

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So, my Bradley has the flu. He's sniffling...coughing...sneezing...wheezing...and sort of moaning a lot. It's makes my heart sad...there's not one thing I can do to help him (except bring him lotion filled tissues...) I'm drinking lots of liquids and chewing Cold-Eeeze chewing gum so as to ward off the germs. (Does this truly work, by the way? I feel as if I'm doing something to simply make my psyche feel better...not necessarily my immunse system) Say a little prayer for him...

We are now a bike-riding family. (And by 'bike', I mean bicycle. Brad's afraid people will think we've purchased motorcycles. I contend that if they know us at all, that will not even cross their minds...) That was our Merry Christmas present to eachother...Brad and I. His is red, and big, and sturdy, and rugged. Mine is purple, and silver, my size and rugged only enough to stay on the trails (me, being the slightly girly-girl I am...it couldn't be too mountain-bike-watch-me-roll-over-the-rocks-and-down-the-hill kind of thing. That's where the shiny silver comes in...)

We got Brad's at the Bike-O-Rama, here in town. And the guy that helped us seemed to know what he was talking about, which made me feel better...seeing as we're newbies in all of this. We drive a car...not a little bitty one...a mid-size, you could say...but surely big enough to cart the new bike home. Luckily, the backseat folds down so the trunk stretches all the way into the car. I unlocked them, the seats, folded them down promptly, as Brad wrestled with the bike, estimating the best way to get it into the trunk.

He tried with the back wheel going in first...that didn't work.

He tried with the front wheel going in first...that really didn't work either.

We maneuvered things around in the trunk, made some more room, pushed a little harder...and that didn't work...

After about 25 minutes of rearranging (this is going on in front of this little shop, mind you...which is surrounded by windows. I'm sure with every minute, it became increasingly clear that we have never wrestled a bicycle into the back of a Honda in our lives. The more they surely realized this fact, the more Brad's embarassement grew...for he was the one standing outside doing all the masterful wrestling...I was waiting patiently in the car.) Brad decides it best to simply ride the thing home. It's about a 10 minute drive...not terribly far...and we were left with no options. As I pull away from my parked position, I see the guy that had helped us earlier come out of the Bike-O-Rama to inform Brad that the front tire comes off...something maybe he could have thought to tell us, oh, say, 30 minutes earlier? Just a thought...

Now, I really do believe that Brad can do anything. He's amazing that way...very determined...no matter what. But this...I clutched my cell phone to my chest, sure that he would call me to come fetch him...

About 45 minutes later, he comes strolling through the front door. Okay...almost crawling is more like it. We live at the top of a hill...a long, stretching, climbing hill. He got a running start, and made it half way up...and I think he then actually began to slide backwards. He had to rest on the side of the little road...and prop himself and the bike up against the white wall that lines one side of the pavement. He then walked the bike the remaining few yards...

For the next few hours, I just kept filling up his glass with water...and slowly but surely, the scary violet color that had jumped onto his cheeks went away...and the lovely color of Bradley came back to me.

The next day he rode Rosebud to work. (and for the "behind the scenes" on the naming of the bike, see bradandbethany.com, and click 'Brad') On the voyage home, he popped BOTH tires...got into some pricklers of some sort.

And now he has the flu.

It's a sick house all the way around...