Biking with Wendy.

Last month was my birthday and I'm old, very old. But, never you mind that. I still feel like a spring chicken! The important thing is that I got the best birthday present ever. I got Wendy.

I first spied Wendy more then a year ago. I saw her in the far corner of the living room in the house of my good pals, Kara and Chris. This might sound strange, but you can find bicycles there in almost every corner, even hanging from the ceiling. Chris is a serious master at restoring vintage bikes. And when I say restore, I mean, he lovingly, meticulously turns a rusting (but charming) old Raleigh into a thing just this side of amazing. He spends untold hours polishing the chrome, shining up old paint, oiling the wheels and gears and hubs. The action is so smooth, you would think you were riding one of those "retro" bikes from Anthropoligie. But unlike pretend old, it still shows all the wear and age that makes you fall in love with things vintage. If you look really close, you can make out an incredibly cute decal of a girls head and the letters W E N D Y going down the stem. So, I guess her name is Wendy.

I wanted to buy her months ago but was a little strapped. We were saving everything for our wedding and a new bike didn't seem like the necessity that finding a dress did. So I put it off thinking I would save up and get it when we were all done. And I promptly forgot about poor Wendy. But Alvaro didn't.

On the morning of my birthday, there she was in my very own living room with a tiny orange bow tied to the handlebar grip. I was so completely shocked that I jumped in the air and then immediately started crying. Later we went riding off down the street to get breakfast. And every last push of the petal was a delight.

p.s. if anyone needs a bike, shoot me an email and I'll ask Chris if he has any more like mine. I think he might have a whole garage plum FULL.