Today was a nice end to a crummy, stressful week. :) It rained, for one thing! YAY RAIN! And what made it even better was that I was in a green part of the city you'd never know existed... Right by a flowing stream... Ah, it was beautiful!

But before I get on a tangent. :)

Tonight was the first library party. All of us who work in the NNU library went to the chaplain's house and had fried chicken, rolls, macaroni salad, Sunchips, what I call pink salad, and real strawberry/raspberry lemonade. Yum! And Gene (our chaplain) made this dulcimer over the summer that I tried to figure out how to play. But I couldn't do it 'cause a few of the strings were out of tune... I cannot play stuff with with off-key notes. I just can't stand it. Anyway, so we had planned to go biking or jump on the trampoline or just general outdoorsy stuff, but of course the weather didn't cooperate properly. But Gene had mentioned he had a tandem bike.

Kevin wanted to try that. He asked Carrie to try it with him. Carrie is this really sweet girl who doesn't like to try new stuff. Kind of like me. :D She made up excuses, but eventually agreed to come. I followed them out... This almost sounded like something fun.

"You want to try it first?" Carrie asked me after we'd gotten the bike out.

"Um... Sure," I said, after only a moment's hesitation, thinking Carrie was reasoning that if Kevin and I came back whole and unharmed, she might try it, LOL. :D So I got on the bike behind Kevin and we...attempted to take off. It was so scary! We wobbled and teetered and generally were off to a very rocky start, and I could not stop laughing. I just knew we were going to topple over any minute now, and for some reason it exhilarated me and was the funnest thing I'd ever tried!

Most fun. Thank you for correcting my grammar. ;)

We rode around the block. Going around corners was an adventure! We had to lean and lean the opposite way we were turning. Man, I just knew we were going to fall, but we never did! We even made it across two very narrow bridges! YESSS!! :D

What was the funniest and coolest part was that--well, I'm naturally a fearful person. (In case some of you hadn't caught that already. ;) ) When I'm scared, I tend to just freeze up. But on that bike... When we got to the corners--and especially the narrow bridges!--I would be hit with that initial terror and feel my muscles start locking up, but in the next second... Maybe it was the adrenaline or something, but instead of freezing up I had more an attitude of, "Just go for it!" (It helped that I knew that if I stopped pedaling we would fall over, LOL!) I just had to brave it and... It was like taking a leap into the unknown. THAT'S what it was! And there is nothing I am more scared of than the unknown. Anyone who has known me for a long period of time could tell you that. I hate trying new stuff. I like to know what I'm getting into.

But on that bike, it was just this huge risk-taking that sort of had a elating freedom to it. I think that was partly because I had somebody just as new as I was right there with me. :) But at the same time, I wasn't terribly afraid of getting hurt--but I knew if I did, it wouldn't be bad. It wasn't a huge, gaping canyon we were crossing, just a little rocky stream. I might bruise my backside a bit, but no more. :) It was amazing... For someone like me, learning not to fear in a situation like that is just an incredibly freeing experience.

What a great time! I loved just laughing my head off as we rocked and wobbled and tried to get the hang of it. It was so much fun! I need to do that another time. :D

Oh, I forgot to say the funny/ironic part. When Kevin and I rounded our way back to Gene's house, Carrie was gone. She chickened out. :D But that made it all the more fun, 'cause we got to go around again. FUN STUFF. :D

That's all I'm rambling about today. Have a good night! Try a tandem bike one of these days.

-Stephanie