I arrived home safely via red-eye from California on Sunday morning. After getting reacquainted with the spouse and catching up on a few things, my spouse called me into our family room and presented me with…

…an early birthday gift: a new reflective white summer-weight ballistic nylon jacket. He said that he knew that I would be anxious to get back on my Harley again now that I have recovered sufficiently from my rib fractures.

I thanked him profusely, then after a beat, I said, “darn, the shop is closed today, so I’ll have to wait until Tuesday to get my bike.”

I had left my Harley at the shop all last week for inspection to look for any hidden damage and routine service. The good news was that the shop confirmed that the only damage to my bike was cosmetic (scratches). I intended to pick up the bike on Saturday if I returned from the West Coast as previously planned. The shop is closed on Sunday and Monday.

My spouse smiled a wry smile and said, “when you parked your truck in the garage, you didn’t see your Harley?”

I gave him a look and stammered, “What? Where? How’d you do that?” and ran out into the garage.

I found my Harley in the back of the garage under a tarp. When I arrived home early on Sunday morning, I was bleary-eyed from the lack of sleep using a red-eye flight, so I didn’t even notice a tarp covering my Harley. It was right there all along.

My ever-thoughtful, caring spouse arranged with a biker buddy of mine to get my bike for me from the shop. My spouse paid the repair bill via phone using his credit card.

So there it was — my ol’ reliable and wonderful Harley, waiting for its first “real” ride.

I quickly pulled on a pair of boots and breeches, donned the new jacket, and went for a short but exciting ride with my riding club. Yep, Booted Harleydude is back in the saddle of his beloved Iron Horse!Life is short: love the love from your spouse who shows how he loves me by his thoughtful and caring actions.