Getting Hitched

I took a long lunch and got hitched today. My boss wanted to know where I was registered. "U-Haul," I replied, "because I'm a classy you-know-what!"

My bike Chase on her new rack.

No nuptials were exchanged, but I did venture four blocks from home to have a hitch and bike rack installed on my SUV, thus greatly expanding my range to cycle throughout northeast Ohio this summer. It's been a project I've been putting off since December and then again since early March.

Frequently, I see posts on social media about the projects people are accomplishing in Coronatime: cleaning closets, baking bread, rewiring their houses, painting rooms. I have not had the motivation nor the energy to do anything like that. The night before I started working from home, I did clean off my desk and put all the papers on the floor. All of the papers are still on the floor, sorted into rough piles, ready for filing. I started my taxes, and even though I'm getting a refund, the return sits unfinished in my tax software. Last June, I brought my grandmother's cedar chest from Scranton; it has been sitting in my garage ever since until I find a place for it in my house. I won't tell you how long it's been since I cleaned my one and a half bathrooms. I usually reserve that task for when company's arrival is imminent—and that isn't happening anytime soon, except on Zoom ... and I won't be taking people in the bathroom, at the risk of becoming the next Zoom Pooper on YouTube.

So why did I get hitched today?

While I am certainly eager to explore more trails beyond my usual 10-15 mile radius, a friend who is currently in a hard lockdown asked if I could deliver bikes she and her husband had left with friends over the winter. They can ride them on the roads in their retirement community for now, and then hopefully, on the trails in their community in the near future. When she asked, I remembered offering to do this months ago. "Sure," I said. "I have to get my hitch installed, which I can do this week."

Helping a friend in need provided the necessary nudge to do what I had been putting off for so long. It felt good to accomplish that task today, considering the struggles I've had tapping into the intrinsic motivation needed to do the things that could be done, or in some cases, should be done during this pause. And as I look around my living room now, I see the spot vacated by the bike rack box that had been there since December, and I think I can finally visualize where the cedar chest might go. Or not.

So today, I celebrate getting hitched. May the honeymoon last.