So, a friend told me she thought it was time for a humorous post. She should have known the danger of that suggestion because the funniest things that have ever happened to me also involve her. I hope she’s up for this!
My husband and I make quite a few extended trips on our Harley Davidson. We have a favorite couple we like to travel with, the friend mentioned above and her husband. They had been married just five days and this was our very first trip with them. My husband and I were celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary and they were marking one week as we left home for ten days on the open road.
It is no secret that guys love their bikes. They talk about them, show th
em off, polish them, compare them, and talk about them some more. Everytime we stopped for a break, the guys would stand around admiring the bikes while she (let’s call her Bev) and I busied ourselves with more important things like finding an espresso stand or poking around gift shops or catching up on all that had gone on since the last stop two hundred miles ago.
This particular stop was for gas and a short break. Bev and I went inside the mini-market to grab a cup of that questionable push-a-button- shazaam-it’s-espresso. Of course we got the extra large size. We wandered back out to where the guys were doing what guys do – admiring their bikes. The sun was shining, the weather was perfect and the camaraderie was perfect.
I leaned against a pole and took a big sip of my drink. Bev decided she needed something out of the saddlebags so she set her drink on the front seat of the bike. The memory of what followed will forever be frozen in time.
Bev opened the saddlebag, her extra large, hot, sticky drink tipped over, the shiny chrome of the Harley disappeared under a sheet of mocha – and the only sound was the sharp gasp of breath from every man within viewing distance.
No one moved for several seconds. All of the guys looked at the husband. Bev and I looked at each other. Somehow we knew this would be the ultimate test of the week old marriage. She would either be flattened, forgiven, or forced to find her own ride home.
Have you ever known someone who reacts to a crisis by laughing? Yeah? Well, that’s my friend Bev. So let me give you some advice right here and now. Dousing a Harley Davidson showroom polished motorcycle with a sticky chocolate drink is not a laughing matter. Take my word for it.
You might also appreciate knowing that pulling a cheap, carboardy napkin out of your pocket and attacking the flawless chrome is not a good idea regardless of your intentions. There are special chamois cloths for that.
And one more bit of knowledge gleaned from that experience. Men love their wives. Men love their motorcycles. Do not let yourselves get in a situation where one is pitted against the other. My friends are still married – but it was a close call.
Now – the challenge. How do I turn this little story into something inspirational to fit my platform? I guess I would have to refer to this little scripture hidden in the book of Leviticus.
“‘Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.” Leviticus 5:17
Bev, the fact is you were a newlywed in a whole new experience, completely innocent of the rules. But by the biker standard – you were guilty as sin! And had you not been a brand new bride, it may have been the unpardonable sin!
