Yay!

Well today was the day! My goal for this week as I previously mentioned was to make it to the restaurant by my house to see my friend for his annual poker/bike run. He has done this every year for his birthday for...well I have no idea how long but he is in his 60's now. It's a pretty big event as far as I know, at least for bikers. I had some anxiety throughout the day and like a couple of weeks ago when I went out to Elite, I was feeling quite nervous by the time I needed to go. My friend had told me that the run ended at 4ish and that he would be there after he stopped at home and picked up his car. I was too nervous at first and had a hard time making it out of my neighborhood so I headed home and calmed down a bit and tried again. It took me at least 5 tries to get myself there. The second time when I drove past the place, it was so BUSY! I mean, like biker overload. They had roped off part of the parking lot for his birthday so that he could bring in a band and people could hang outside and there were tons of people everywhere...and bikes! Every time I convinced myself I could do it, I'd change my mind by the time I got to the parking lot and would leave again.

I think I finally just got to the point where I was thinking to myself....I know I can do this...why not at least prove it to myself rather than wonder later whether or not I could. And I really wanted to see my friend. The last time I was able to hang out with him was at his Christmas party two Decembers ago. I was able to make it in long enough to hug him and say hello and chat very briefly then I left. Another 5 minute thing lol. I was SO happy that I was at least able to do that. I am excited for days when I will actually be able to hang out for longer periods of time and feel more at ease. He is a part of the older crowd that I used to hang out with and I do miss being able to chat with him. He has lead and still leads a rather interesting life and I've always enjoyed hearing his stories about what he has been up too. In the past year, he graduated from a culinary school in California which I think is pretty amazing to do at 60ish! I think it just shows that people are capable of many things if they just put their mind to it. Makes me wonder what I am capable of if I can focus my mind better...