When I was four I had a Big Wheel I rode absolutely everywhere.  I remember Daddy got me this thing that sounded like a motorcycle revver for one of the handles.  I thought I was so cool.  Leap from 1974 to 2016; my girl fearlessly gets on her cute karate instructor’s bike without a moment’s hesitation.  I don’t know whether to be proud or terrified.  I got to sit on a real motorcycle or two in my day and I was always afraid the kickstand would collapse and it would fall over.  However I have fond memories of my cousin Michael taking me through the mountains in California on the back of his bike when I was seven.  It was the ’70’s so there were no helmets and I loved feeling the wind in my long, straight blonde hair and inhaling the scent of the pine trees as we blew by.  He went fast and I hung on for dear life.  I remember when he’d turn it felt like we were going to scrape the ground.  I was a good girl growning up and I didn’t do anything wrong riding that bike with my grown cousin.  But I know if Mama and Daddy had been there they would have had a lot of gray hairs from it.  Of course I realize motorcycles can be dangerous, particularly in the city.  But wow the joy of riding free through those hills and trees was something that has always stuck with me.  It was exhilarating and I was able to simply enjoy the ride.  Shortly after my husband and I got married we went around Christmas for our close friends’ wedding in New Mexico.  We decided to go snowmobiling the next day in Durango and I was so paralyzed with fear (I don’t like to ski for the same reasons:  heights and ice) he had to drive for us.  Burk was so confident and assured and I remember being so grateful he got us through.  I suppose we become more cautious as we get older.  American actor Johnny Depp said, “I think the thing to do is enjoy the ride while you’re on it.”  My little one did not really go anywhere, but I believe she did just that.