I drove west this weekend to visit my family. It’s exactly five hours from home to home, enough time for a few podcasts and some prolonged daydreaming. This time I had stocked my podcast app with “The Writer’s Almanac.” Its piano intro and Garrison Keillor’s familiar murmuring voice remind me of home. I remember listening to “The Writer’s Almanac” on public radio as a child, always curious to learn more about the people who chose the profession I wanted. Oddly enough, Keillor was also the keynote speaker at the first writers’ conference I ever attended (as a sixth-grader). The short program ends with a poem and today I wanted to share one here. The poem is published on “The Writer’s Almanac” website, but I encourage you to listen to Garrison Keillor read it at the end of the podcast. Listen to (and read) Learning the Bicycle by Wyatt Prunty here. The poem is especially fitting today because my dad and I went for our first bike ride of the season over the weekend. Nearly 27 years ago, he took me to the junior high tennis courts and held on to the seat of my bike as I pedaled for the first time. I dedicate this poem to him.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.