Joy

Since getting back from Colorado, most of my days have been filled with a lot of local riding in and around the city, running errands and where I can, doing longer rides between coffeeshop venues to get my work done. As a contract software developer, I work remotely, which is great. It means I can do my job anywhere. But on very busy days, it also means I am literally always carrying my job on my back, wherever I go, any time of day.

On my many shorter rides this past week, what time I had to reflect was spent on the meaning of life and joy. Really, if you've read any of my earlier blogs, you know that the motorcycle is a perfect vehicle for this type of reflection. This week's riding has not been any different. Many of my thoughts have drifted to this one underlying question: is joy the meaning of life? I keep getting that same message from many different sources, but really, is it that simple..?

I have talked a lot to both my parents this past week, way more than usual. My mom and dad are both in their 80's, getting up there but still mentally active and alive. But they are also tired, both of them. They have lived long and very adventurous lives themselves, together and apart, and I love to hear them both recall all their many stories, of life abroad, of travels to strange places that I will likely never see and seeing them in a way I may never see them.

I heard one of my favorites last week, of how they ran out of money in Germany, got evicted from the bedroom space they were renting, and moved into a campground and tent and ate sausage scraps until my dad got a good paying job. They both tell the story differently, but in both their voices I hear wanderlust; that same tone that says: "I was there, I lived then, I made it happen... I was alive then!"

And there is joy there also. A not-so-hidden smile in somebody's voice for the memory, and all the emotions that memory evokes.

Nowadays, their advice to me is exactly the same: seek joy, let things go, be alive and live your life well, do good, have fun, vibrate positively. All advice I readily accept as true. After all, they've been there, they've seen the world in a way and for a stretch that I haven't yet.

Joy it is.