Hey hey Ray

Happenstance sometimes just happens.

Tonight I was walking in downtown Bethesda on my way to the B & N to find a Secret Santa gift for a work colleague. Since I work in B-town all day, everyday, it's rare that I'm there after 6PM, and in this case I had to pick up some stuff that I had forgotten for an early meeting.

As I walked in front of Raku, I though "I wonder if Ray is there". Ray (aka Rayman) is one of my many friends that I have gotten to know through the rekindled obsession with bicycle racing that occupied my early adult life, went dormant for 11 years, and now is back in full force. And when I say dormant, I mean it. I don't think I rode my bike once per year in that time period, this coming after logging 200+ mile weeks for about 4 years (maybe not as consistently as I would like to remember, but I am a revisionist historian).

So about 10 seconds later I run into Ray and his wife Justina. They're on their way to Raku, no doubt a mid off-season power walk. Cool coincidence. Nice conversation, great to run into people you know, good to meet or see the better halves of the people we associate with. I would have loved to join them for dinner, as they suggested, but I had to pick up the boy from a Scout meeting. Ray and I have lined up at the starting lines of some races the past few years, though he's seen the finish line many more times than I have. I'm tryin' to get him to join us in the mud, but so far no dice...

As for the Secret Santa gift, no luck there, as I'm looking for a specific something. On to Amazon. They have everything!!!