Philly

My good friend DEA (he's an agent) bought a house in Philly August 1st, so I went up to give him a hand with a few home improvement projects this weekend. DEA got married a two years ago to a girl from my hometown who I really like, and they had a little girl last DEcember. DEA is a wild guy, so it's strange to see him smelling for dirty diapers and riding a huge sit-down lawn mower. Just a few years ago he was sniffing panties and ripping through town on a motorcycle.

I stayed at their place and spent two days peering into the life of a married couple with kids and it was very scary to me. I'm not unaccustomed to being around children, I have nine nieces and nephews, but I have never been around my friends and their families for extended periods of time. My two take-aways from the weekend are that children are exhausting and messy. I can see the reward and satisfaction factors, but I still just don't understand the appeal of bringing another life into the world. I truly believe it is hormonal, you just have this primal urge to reproduce.

For some, reproduction is their only reason for existing. They feel that some higher being put them on Earth to "go forth and multiply". That argument just doesn't hold water for me, take a walk through any poor urban area and you can see that's not working out for anyone. Just because you can have kids doesn't mean you should. In this case DEA and his wife are in a committed relationship and can afford to raise this child. Even with the committed relationship part taken out of the equation, just because you can afford to have a baby does that mean you should? Conversely, if you CAN'T afford to have a baby does that mean you SHOULDN'T? Things get scary when the sword swings both ways. Personally, I believe you shouldn't have kids if you can't adequately provide for them, but I don't think I would be comfortable with a formal government definition of "adequately".

Well, my head was spinning by the time I left Sunday afternoon. I got in my Jeep, dropped the top, and hit the road back to DC. I have been thinking about buying a Harley so I took a detour on the way home and stopped at Mike's Harley Davidson in Delaware, which is right at the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I was pretty ratty from working with DEA. I had on filthy shorts, a dirty white t-shirt, flip flops, and a dirty baseball hat. I certainly didn't look the part of a biker, at least not a Harley owner. Regardless, I walked into the showroom and looked at a few used bikes. A couple of bikes with the high handle bars (ape hangers) caught my attention and I sat on them to see if the bars would be comfortable to ride with. As soon as I got on the bike this young sales girl came over and introduced herself. I didn't want any help, I really just wanted to get the feel for a few different style bikes I thought were interesting, but the store's policy is that you can't sit on bikes unless a sales associate is present. I can't blame them, you're sitting on some very expensive iron that they don't want tipped over.

Anyway, this girl, who couldn't have been older than 21 followed me around the store for 40 minutes. I asked her for a specific model and she said they had one in the service area that she could show me. Sure enough, in the very back of the shop was a black Wide Glide with everything I wanted. I sat on the bike and she flipped through her paperwork and said (there's another one in the tent in back". I followed her as she went to the tent and tried out that bike as well. While I was sitting on the bike she put her hand on the back of my neck and leaned against my arm while she asked me some question that I can no longer recall. The bike had super-tall handle bars, so her boob was pressing against my forearm. I'm a pretty cynical guy, so I chalked this up to good salesmanship. It was a little uncomfortable, though. I mean, if the sales person was a he instead of a she I think I would have had just cause to punch him in the larynx. The other thing that made me a little nervous is that we were way out behind the store, there wasn't a sole around. The girl was pretty slutty looking, I think there was at least a 75% chance I could have bent her over a bike out there, but you never know if she's dating the owner, or some maniac mechanic. I told her I had seen enough bikes and we made our way back to the showroom.

When I left she handed me her business card and told me to call her. She said she is in DC a lot, and that we should get together sometime. I'm not interested, though, and pitched her card.

This Thursday I leave for my rafting trip with Kay. I will certainly have some good stories next week.