Lesson 7: There will be good days and bad days

Some days on a bike tour couldn't be better. The sun is shining, the scenery is beautiful, your legs and lungs feel strong, and at the end of the day you feel like you've accomplished something. It even feels like the entire route runs downhill. Or, to paraphrase the Irish, the road rises to meet your wheels. Other days, it is raining and windy, the route is an endless series of hills, and your butt hurts. Then, you get a flat tire. And a second flat tire. And even (yes, this has happened to me) a third. Next your disposition sours.  The only thing that keeps you going is the knowledge that there are more good days than bad, and that if you weren't out there slogging through a bad day, you'd never have the opportunity to experience a good one. Life for the parents of a child in the NICU is full of both good days and bad days. We went from fear to hope to despair, often within a period of a few hours. Some days were harder than most – learning that Lukas would need heart surgery, then bowel surgery, and concerns about genetic diseases and brain damage. These bad days were followed by the utter relief, often on the same day, of successful surgery, and news that all the genetic and neurologic tests were normal.