Life goes on, with a little bit of luck

Yesterday I had this great idea to go biking into Washington DC from near Dulles Airport, a distance of about 38 km / 24 miles. I had been hungry for some exercise after a seven hour plane ride from London, and thought it would be practical since my sister who is living in DC wanted to hang out that afternoon. So why not, it’s only about a two hour ride granted we push through at a moderate pace. So I proposed the idea to my mom who had taken the day off to be with me, and since she’s just as crazy as me sometimes, said it was a great idea.
But… since I was only home for one day, we also just HAD to go berry picking beforehand. And of course on the way there, we ran into the main street of the US open for golf. Mr. Murphy played it well again.. this of course made our little trip out to the countryside a little more lengthy, resulting in a speed-picking of tart cherries and blueberries, but in the end were absolutely delicious, so worth the trouble 🙂
Afterwards, the ride to DC wasn’t too bad; I didn’t get really tired. We even switched bikes so that I got the one with more friction from the thicker mtn. bike wheels. Something cool: we were amongst the first bikers to cross a new bridge they opened up over I495, the beltway of Washington DC. That afternoon, we paddleboated with my sister, then went to a really good Indian restaurant for dinner. By 21h00, I was ready to collapse.. it hit me so fast. But I did have my reasons: biking, paddle boating, under the sun since 9h30 that morning resulting in a nice burn on my back, not to mention the jetlag from Europe. The thought that I still hadn’t packed my bag for my Interview/vacation in Oregon didn’t help my case. On the way home, I passed out in the car so much, that when I had to get out and walk up to my house, a bout of nausea hit me. I was literally sick from lack of sleep and energy. After a tablespoon of pure honey as a boost, I tried organizing myself (but I’m pretty sure my room looks like someone’s luggage exploded), packed my hiking bag with the most minimalistic packing I’ve ever done (I was not about to pay another $25 to get my bag checked), checked into my flight, and collapsed onto my bed, setting my alarm for 5am, probably three-quarters of the way asleep already.
My alarm was quite faithful, and started happily chirping precisely at 5 in the morning. Normally, one would think that sleeping some time, even as little as 4 hours would help, but waking up, nausea was once again making its rounds through my body…
Nevertheless, my mind felt sound, spirits up. On the way to the airport, the light outside was the most amazing I had seen in a while, the sun coming up at an angle it only does during the longest days of the year, shining towards a backdrop of dark clouds. All of a sudden, my father points to something in the sky. Looking towards his outreached finger, I caught glimpse of the most beautiful double rainbow illuminating the sky towards the airport. I said to myself: if this isn’t a sign of luck, I don’t know what is. I even snapped a picture of an airplane flying stright into the rainbow as we approached the airport. Absolutely stunning.