Many years ago my mom first exposed me to the Yiddish word basheret, or “meant to be”. At the time I thought it was a lovely little word, like many other lovely little Yiddish words (think schmata, schlep, mensch and the like) and I tossed it into the verbal library for future reference.
As time went by I found the word surfaced more and more often and began to take on much more meaning for me in various aspects of my life. My dearest friend Brenda from college, who is so much more then a friend – is my basheret. My move to New York seems in its entirety to be besheret and most recently, a chance meeting, followed up by a really exciting set of circumstances also seems to fall under this unique and very special category.
Cycling has always been a true respite for me from all complications of life. Besides reading it is quite possibly my favorite thing to do. I mentioned in an earlier post that I ran into a fellow Brooklynite a week or so ago while out on a fixed ride. Well, it happens that she has an entire crew of fellow road cyclists and that they have organized rides twice weekly. I have always wanted to be involved in something like this. An opportunity to learn how to ride in a small peloton is something I’ve been meaning to do for years. Being in the company of other cyclists is almost always an excellent thing as well since cyclists tend to kick ass, and be generally cool and kind people overall.
This morning I went for my first ride with Wendy’s friends and it exceeded my expectations. I was leery about the start time, which was 5:45am, something else I’ve never done in my life. For most of my 20′s I was far more likely to still be up at that hour than to be on a bike flying up Park Slope on my way to Prospect Park for a ride. But sure enough, that’s exactly what I was doing this morning and it was wonderful.
The group was just a little above my normal speed and riding level, though I was told that they were taking it easy today *gulp*. But that’s usually a good thing, because it pushes me, and one thing I can always enjoy is being challenged.
When I arrived it was still completely dark and we took note of the position of the moon in the sky and the very autumn like chill to the air. Later, when I was much warmer, I marveled as the burgeoning light gently lent color to the park with the sun’s rising. How often do you get to see something like that, on a random Tuesday morning in September?
The waking up aspect was tough, and I can tell my body isn’t used to exertion of that kind at such an hour, but in all aspects I can think of it was worth it and I simply cannot wait to do it again on Thursday. What a thrill it is to make a decision that benefits your mind and body this way! I have spent the better part of my day so far with a big smile on my face.
Besheret indeed.
Perfect! You will be riding a century with us in no time at all! My new fix is going to be SO Basheret… lets go for a ride on Sunday!
I kind of knew my name would be in this blog, just based on the title. You know how I feel about you too. But it’s nice to have a feeling that the place you live is Bashert. I feel the same way about SF as you do about NYC. It’s like we were born for these places, and all the bullshit we’ve had to endure only helped us get here in the end.
Imagine where you’d be if some of the things that occurred in the past 12 months never did…..
Miss you