A year ago there was very little in my life to prevent me from spending my weekends riding. My immediate family lives far away, so no family events to attend. My largest circle of friends, including ThrottleDaddy, are the people I ride with, so we spend all our social time riding (and eating) together. I don’t see my pre-riding friends as often as I would like, but with old friends, seeing each other once every few months – or once per year – is ok.  So I was able to ride all weekend, nearly every weekend, guilt free for a couple of years.

Now things are a little different. ThrottleDaddy and I met, dated, moved in together, and had ThrottleGirl, who now takes up most of my time. ThrottleDaddy has some other immediate family that he has become more involved with since ThrottleGirl was born, and thus I am more involved with them as well. So, family commitment went from nearly non-existent to nearly all consuming – another big change that came along with ThrottleGirl.

This Labor Day weekend, ThrottleDaddy went riding on Saturday. Sunday was spent dealing with some family matters and killing time at the flea market, and Monday would have been the day for me to ride. But… I was sick with a cold, had been up frequently the last few nights with ThrottleGirl who is also sick, and we were in the thick of another heat wave, temps all around us reaching the upper 90s to 100s. So, instead of me going for a ride, we did a little family hike in the redwoods before it got too hot, and then hid inside together to wait out the hottest part of the day. But the weather, lack of sleep and sickness are just excuses.

While I want ThrottleGirl to love all things moto and be proud that mommy rides, I also want her to love the outdoors, peace and quiet, and low-adrenaline activities. It is up to ThrottleDaddy and I to show her how to live a balanced life, and that means we have to do a better job of it ourselves.

I want to fill her life with fun activities, but I want her to have stretches of unstructured time, too. That is how you learn what you like to do. And how to entertain yourself with books and dress up and make believe. And by walking in the woods on a September morning.