God and motor vehicles

I didn't ride this morning.
last night I went out to dinner, and ended up with a night full of drinking and dancing, not returning home until 3 . . . I can't even remember the last time I did anything like that. in fact, have I ever?? I had such a great time, it was just so much fun to be silly and to dance, to just relax and not worry about a thing. wow! I must have had a smile on my face the entire time, and it was freeing to be doing something different. something where no one had any expectations of me, where I could just be me and not feel squeezed into someone else's plan or into one of my many more boring roles. you know, mom, business owner, solid citizen, daily exerciser . . .
it was a blast.

ok, did anyone out there believe me?
I had myself going, there for a minute . . . it was actually sounding like fun. and to be honest, I can remember the last time I did something like that, and it was a ton of fun. I'd gone to dinner with a friend ~ it was a Christmas gathering of his company ~ at a great restaurant downtown, where the wine just kept flowing while the platters whisked their way out from the kitchen, then we all headed over to some club and spent a couple hours on the dance floor. I danced and danced, and didn't even mind the fact that I was ten or twenty years older than most of the girls around. eek. what a terrible thought. that I can be twice as old as college graduates now . . . there goes another bubble, burst into millions of tiny iridescent pieces.

I went for a ride this morning, carefully scheduled to allow me the maximum sleeping-in time while still enabling my presence at my daughters' 9 am volleyball game. ( I was only 5 minutes late. ) I lay in bed last night ~ sometime shortly after ten ~ thinking about my route, and realized that today was an odd day, so I would be able to ride up city creek.
I haven't been up city creek for quite a while, and it was the perfect morning to go: I was all alone for my entire ride up after the first half mile where I encountered a few walkers coming down. if someone reached the top before me this morning, they must have ridden the entire way in the dark. which would be a very cool thing to do; must add that to my list.
the road was as bumpy as ever, the entire right hillside has turned colors, and some stretches of the climb were surprisingly green, still. it was as cold as you'd think, but I turned my headband back from my right ear so I could listen to the sound of the creek on the way up. it was booming and crashing in places, burbling in others, but what I love the most are the almost bog-like spots on the non-creek side of the road, where reeds wave tall and moss threatens to cover trees and rocks alike.
and I saw my favorite sign, again, and once again chastised myself for not following through on my plan. twice (that I recall) along the way, there are warning signs posted along the roadside, that state
MOTOR VEHICLES ALWAYS PRESENT.
I want to change this sign, because I think they've forgotten something.
I want to make a small sign that says "GOD AND" and attach it to the top of the sign. because how can He not be, in this amazingly beautiful gift of a canyon?

when I reached the top, weeping rock memorial grotto, I stared at the jagged gray rock formations that jut from the mountainside above and form the grotto below. I pulled on my armwarmers after my breath calmed, drank some water, looked at the time, and headed back toward home.

God and motor vehicles always present.