I’ve long since given up on the importance of birthday presents – which is quite amazing because I used to cherish a good gift. Nowadays I’m all about the life enriching kind of gifts, a hug from my girls, a nice dinner and a family movie (Chinese and Despicable Me 2 this evening). I am not wealthy by any stretch but I let go of the idea that money (or the acquisition of stuff) and happiness are linked.

So, the greatest birthday present I got this year was that my wife picked up cycling, and it seems like she’s slowly coming to the ferocity with which I enjoy it. Friday at dinner my wife asked me if there were any girls that hang with the guys I ride with… She plans on being there with us soon (though there is one already who can hang for the first 20 miles or so).

There are several reasons to celebrate this. First of all, I’m a guy so… Cycling will keep her looking like the MILF version of the hot young woman I married. Equally important though are the rides together and spending time cruising down the road (hopefully during a few centuries in the near future!). When I met my wife, we found that we shared a love of roller blading and I’d hoped that would have us sharing some form of fitness throughout our marriage. My wife got me into running and we ran together for a while but that faded after our kids were born. Now that they’ve grown up a bit, we’re finding the time to ride together and I’m loving it.

Finally, and most humorously, my wife used to grow weary of my talking about cycling almost instantly – now I used the word weary, but the ferocity with which she would attempt to shut me up was hilarious. The other day, with the girls at a birthday party, my wife and I sat eating dinner using our utensils as props for a discussion on drafting, pace-lines and echelons. Though I was laughing inside I kept a straight face because the truth was, I was in heaven. Cycling was my birthday present last year, cycling with my wife is this year’s.

As a friend from Dayton remarked yesterday, life is good.