Finding Life Between The Little Moments

In the past three weeks, my fellow riders and I have come to endearingly label an aspect of this amazing journey the "Bike & Build bubble".  Certainly this bubble entails unawareness of current events, of professional and academic responsibilities, of constant contact with friends and family and, to a certain extent, of normally accepted hygiene regemines.  However, I think there is a deeper level.  

Being in the Bike & Build bubble is about learning to approach your life with a different attitude.  It's about embracing the smaller moments and appreciating the present.  It's about watching the sunrise and realizing that you are greeting the day on a bicycle pushing yourself forward across the country.  It's about realizing that the paint splattered across your clothing doesn't matter.  It's about seeing the value in the conversations with our hosts.  It's about laughing so intensely with my teammates that it feels like my abdominal muscles are going to explode.  It's about looking at the scrapes and bruises and realizing that they will turn into scares with incomparable stories.  

So here's to Vera and Bobbie cutting the ribbon on their home in New Orleans over 8 years after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. 

Here's to Claire and her creative taste in clothing. 

Here's to Greg, Josiah and Rhys for providing entertainment over lunch by attempting the Gallon Challenge.  

And here is to new friendships, new adventures, and the best summer of a lifetime.