Dreams versus Reality

Isn't it strange how we can spend years dreaming about something but once that desire becomes a reality, it somehow looses its importance, or perhaps we just loose the passion that drove the desire?

When I was a little girl walking to school in Motueka I would go past the home of an older girl that had just got her first car.  To me, she may as well have just landed on the moon.  The reality of me ever owning a car seemed too fantastical.

When I was 17 I had my second real boyfriend, hindsight being 20/20 I would of been better off not to but every experience we have in life directs us to where we end up so for that I am grateful.  This chap had a Honda CB100 motorcycle, turned out it was his second bike but his Triumph 650 Bonneville had been stolen so I missed out on the classic REAL motorcycle.  Anyway, he had promised to take me to the movies, it was the first showing of the first Star Wars movie.  He'd had a couple of ales on his way home, he slid in some gravel and did them both some serious injury  That was the end of the date but the beginning of my dertermination to learn to ride so that I never had to miss out on something because of someone elses behaviour again.

There were some horrendous journeys on that CB100 over the years but that little bike was also my training ground for motorcycle mechanics as I rebuilt it, and the CB650 Custom that followed it a few years later.  Granted my butt was incredibly smaller in those days, the thought of this arrangement adorning that tiny frame is all but farcicle.

Anyway, I digress.  Back to the dream, it was always the Harley Davidson.

The CB 100 dude ended up being husband #1 and that ended with a broken CB 650 Custom which in turn was replaced with another CB 650 Custom albeit without the stainless steel pipes.  A broken marriage, a broken bike and a broken body (not literally, just a lot of bruises that took many months to heal) it was time to move on.  The accident knocked my confidence around but it didn't keep me off the back of a motorcyle for long.  Over the years that followed the CB 650 Custom became a Suzuki GSX1100 and then a Honda 700 Magna which in turn gave way to motherhood until 2007 when the Beast arrived - originally a Yamaha XS1100 it was unrecognisable as it had been when it left the factory but for me it was love at first sight, of course the price helped too as it was totally affordable.

The Beast was all muscle, it was black, it was heavy and it was loud, very very loud.  I reckon the previous owner was a Harley wanna-be so it suited me to a tea, cause that was me too although I don't think I would have ever butchered this bike to the degree it had become.  It wasn't long however and the Beast became a financial black hole and a potential death trap so it was time to repair and replace and the dream finally became a reality.  Caution gave way to insanity as I commited myself to a $21K debt to ride my dream machine, a 2008 Harley Davidson XL1200 C, 105th anniversary edition.  To tell the truth, if it wasn't for meeting Hunky Hubby #3 I don't think I would have returned to motorcycling after junior parenting but because of his passion and encouragement it was a natural progression, also helped immensely that he proposed while test riding the Harley Davidsons but that is another blog :-)

I was absolutely precious about the XL1200C, it was the only brand new vehicle I had ever owned and it had taken a lifetime to realise the dream, 46 years. I was in heaven.  I had my bike and I was engaged to Hunky Hubby, the only thing missing was the place in the country but that was to come less than six months later.  Thanks to the musical persistance of new neighbours we left Bishopdale in January of 2008 and moved to Southbridge.

The cottage was awesome, the driveway was dusty and so began a disgruntled relationship with a bucket and brush to keep the beauties clean as by now Hunky Hubby was on Harley number 2,  a lovely Softail that I was also privileged to ride, usually in the rain when it was due to be taken to town for a service but it wasn't really a chore.  It was big and black and loud, oh what a beautiful note it cracked!  But with our country lifestyle also came sacrifices and the extra hours travel to town meant that we stopped attending the Ulysses bike club meetings mid week.  It also meant that the average 250km ride became 350km so we began to pick and choose the events that we attended and then our weekends became so labour intensive that the riding diminished to the point a ride had to be added to the calendar just to be included into our lifestyle.

This year began tough.  With Hunky Hubby still struggling to find a permanent position and the government threatening, and succeeding, to increase registration on motorcycles, we had to face cold hard facts.  Our lifestyle had surpassed the dream and now the two just weren't compatible.  The decision was made to let the bikes go.  I think we both immediately went into mourning and began second guessing our decisions but it was meant to be.  The bikes spent more time in the shed than on the road, our lifestyle was more designed to a truck than a motorcyle so for now, the dream was overshadowed by reality.

It's probably been three months now since the Harley sold and to be totally honest I haven't missed it.  I decided to sell the car too and followed the lifestyle we now lead when I purchased the Ratbag.  With #1 son moving out again in a couple of weeks, and he too the proud owner of a truck (following in his mummys footsteps, so proud), it just cements that the decision to sell was the right and practical one.  Hunky Hubby is still unable to find a permanent position and we are facing some incredibly tight financial times ahead therefore no time for expensive dreams just now but...................in the future, perhaps a trike, a Harley Davidson of course!