We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About - Part II (now I am the parent)

When I was in my teens and young twenties, one of our favorite sayings, among my friends, was We Are The people Our Parents Warned Us About. Little did I ever expect there would be a Part II to that saying but now that I am a parent and now that I have seen what is in the pictures, I can attest - Part II is upon me except this time: I am the parent and my son just may be one of the guys I warned my son about! Of course, I say that tongue in cheek, my son is a good man. Yet, when I saw him tonight, his first night as a motorcycle owner, I almost needed to have a good stiff drink. Thing was I had just finished a good wee dram of Knappogue castle Irish Whiskey and another was not needed. What was it they used to say about having a drink: Take Courage. Well I have entered a brave new world of sorts tonight (even if he dragged me into it), one in which it seems I just have another thing to be happy to see my son doing worry about. Man this is pretty neat scary.

Now maybe it scares me because I never rode myself except as a passenger. Quite a few knuckleheads I knew of my friends from my younger years rode but I never had the balls since I was pretty accident prone and did not want to tempt fate. Some had Harleys, some had Triumphs, some had Yamahas (one of the few rice burners, as they called them, that they would even consider if I remember right) and maybe one had an Indian and one a Honda. I seem to recall all had accidents, most very minor. My brother rode too, a Harley. He too had an accident but and is still in pain from it today. Oh well, accidents happen but I am pretty sure Brendan will be a good and safe rider as he is a driver and a shooter. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Fact is, he went to take motorcycle lessons about 2 months ago. He had a long wait between then and now to get the bike since he was waiting for the seller to pay off his loan, then for the title to clear, then to get insurance, register it and so on. It was also being checked and worked on at a dealership, basic maintenance is all, and paid for by the seller as I understand. He picked it up this afternoon. I hope he has not forgotten any of his lessons; he is out riding tonight. Shit, did my mother (only real parent I had) worry about me like this - probably worse since I was not as good a kid as is my son! He is a good kid, so why should I worry? I mean if I can trust him with a brand new car on the road, and both an AK-47 and an AR-15 in the house and at the range, and trust him as my hunting partner, I should be able to trust him with a motorcycle - shouldn't I! Oh well, as I said, it is a brave new world into which he has dragged me and I am not going to worry too much, I am just going to take courage. He will be okay. Of course, if I ever seem him try to pop a wheelie I may just have to pop him one on the front of his dome; then again, I think he knows better.

By the way, the bike is a 2002 Yamaha V-Star 650cc with 4,000 miles on it. That is about all I know about it besides that it looks pretty darned scary cool with Joe Cool himself mounted on it - don't ya think!

All the best,
Glenn B

ps: See anything spooky in the picture? Take a look at the window in the top shot (click on the pic to enlarge it first). Those two bright dots are eyeballs, all 4 of our dogs were flipping out when he showed up on the bike and one was right at the window when I took the shot.