Back to the beginning

Last month I was very fortunate to travel out to Staten Island and visit with my family.  It has been over 20 years since I last drove out to see them, and this time I did not get lost, woohooo.  Alright we got a little lost but nothing that was too scary.  I was blessed to meet Sandy's future husband, he is very talented artist by the way, and to have dinner with the entire family.  I don't know what it is about the City but they have some of the greatest diners in the country, and thankfully they took us to one. :)  Over dinner Sandy preceded to tell me about our family history and how she traced us back to the first Hebner to settle in the New World.  This is where it got interesting.  Come to find out the first Hebner settle, are you ready, just north of Toronto Ontario in a small town called Markham.  He was a blacksmith and he lived a very full life and had many children. 
Now you ask where am I going with this little history lesson?  Well  I have considered my bike ride this summer not only to be a mid-life crisis event but also a pilgrimage.  A pilgrimage to help me get focused on myself, my strengths, my weaknesses and my growth spiritually.  Even as I get up everyday to go to the gym, kindle and iphone in hand it is a journey for me to escape the busy schedule I have with the boys and to just focus on me and my weaknesses.  I am finding I can pedal faster, stronger and longer each week and I am confident that at the end of the ride I will raise my hands up and shout and triumph.  And now knowing my family history I can raise my hands up and say I am home, I am back where it all started and just like the first Hebner I fought my weaknesses and my challenges and I made it. 
After the ride is over, after the workshops I hope to attend, and a few beers have been consumed, I will be traveling up to Markham.  I look forward to finding the first Hebner's stone in the cemetery and saying to him, " Thank you for making it against the odds, for facing your fears.  I hope the determination you showed in the beginning is still being seen today through my journey."