“If you don't have someone to do it with it's not worth doin'

To all my friends, it's not the end the earth has not swallowed me yet”

Freakout – 311

The past 15 months I have found the above quote of: ”if you don’t have someone to do it with, its not worth doing” to be more true in my life than ever before. While I consider myself an extrovert who enjoys socializing with friends and family; I have found myself alone a lot.

Obviously riding/racing a bike is a solo sport so a lot of alone time there, but also getting trapped alone in my mind as I fight through one of the nastiest known cancers out there becomes lonely.

While some alone time is good, there is a need for us humans to rely each other for support and happiness. If we fall too far down the loneliness hole it can be hard to climb out. After following strict covid guidelines for 14 months, and Ann and I being fully vaccinated in February, we decided to climb out of our hole to find happiness in spending time with family.

The realization that I have made is that to make it through this life, you truly need someone by your side. Family, friends, a pet; something to prop you up and let you know that life is worth living. Break down the barriers of isolation and let that someone into your head and heart and life will be that much better; don’t let earth swallow you whole.

My main someone, Ann, realized we all needed our heart and souls charged with love and happiness, so we took the boys to visit my family in Colorado for five days…and I didn’t take a bike (oh the horror!). We had an amazing time of hugging parents and grandparents (thank you vaccine!), laughing with cousins, joking with siblings, taking on new adventures, being part of friends’ birthday celebrations, crying with my parents; but most importantly as a family we realized this IS worth doing.

Life.

It often gets overlooked as burden. There is so many layers that complicate the enjoyment of it. But if we can all find that someone or something that makes it worth doing, man is it awesome. And that is what this trip to Colorado was ALL about.

It’s definitely not the end for this guy, or family, and the earth has not quite yet swallowed us whole. We will continue to search for ways to fill our minds and hearts with love and happiness as the journey continues.

Enjoy some photos of my family time in Colorado; I can’t wait for the next adventure to “Freakout” with all my family and friends.

Ben