“Don’t stop riding. Don’t let my dying make you scared of living. Keep that Shadow running. Keep feeling that freedom. Keep being the fearless girl who learned to ride before she learned to drive.”
“I promise.”
“I’ll tell her everything,” I sobbed. “I’ll tell her you were the best man I ever knew.”
Dad smiled one last time before falling asleep. “That’s ’cause it’s true.”
Dad lasted three more weeks. Three weeks where Danny and I postponed our honeymoon and spent every day in that hospital room. Three weeks where the Iron Guardians took shifts making sure Dad was never alone. Three weeks where I got to say everything I needed to say.
He died on a Tuesday morning with me holding one hand and Uncle Bear holding the other. His last words were “ride free, Little Wing.”
The funeral was the biggest motorcycle procession our town had ever seen. Three hundred bikers from seventeen different clubs showed up to honor Dad. We rode from the funeral home to the cemetery, and I led the procession on my Shadow 750, wearing Dad’s leather vest over my black dress.Continue reading…
