I am the happiest man in the world

[Tjerk12]

Life is a chain of personal emotions. Most of them are small; some bigger; but some exceptional big. So big, that it overwhelms you. Today I had such an emotion. For me the greatest treasure a man can possess is to be loved. That love was shown to me today in a way that was beyond imagination. I celebrated my birthday today (I am 65 now, so official an oldie). The present I got was so touchy, such an incredible sign of love, that it made me cry and even now, when I am typing these lines I am crying like a little baby. When I was in my early twenties (1968), I bought a beautiful motorcycle, a Velocette Venom Thruxton. I used it for many years. But my life changed in a way, that riding that bike was not an option anymore. I did not sell it, because I loved it. Something you love, you cherish. But after all that years it became rusty, like me. Today my beloved (2) boys and their friends gave me my motorcycle completely overhauled, in a showroom condition, as birthday present. And not paid off, no they did all the work themselves. Imagine all that hours for me!!!!!!!!!! My God, I am so happy. I am the happiest man in the world. Not because of the motorcycle, but because of their gesture, their love. This is a picture of this really beautiful machine. And really it looks like this photo!

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[taurus2904]

Your boys and their friends truly did give you an amazing gift! Congratulations -- both for the beautifully restored machine and for having such caring, thoughtful boys.

 

[richym]

That is such a great story. Firstly I want to say Happy Birthday. And I think a present like that reminds you of how important you are to them. It is easy to go and buy someone something. It is when you put time and effort into doing something for someone, then you show how you really love them. Your boys obviously wanted to know how much they love you and appreciate all you have done for you. It is great that you could have such a wonderful thing happen.

 

[loveless92]

You have some truly great boys there, lucky you!

 

[diklik]

Blessed and happy indeed is the man whose close friends and family exhibit such love. Many happy returns of the day, Tjerk, and lots more energetic years! I'm about 5 years behind you, gotta catch up!!

 

[brmstn69]

That really was a beautiful gesture on their part. As an enthusiast of vintage machinery myself, I can truly understand the tremendous amount of labor, dedication and love that goes into such an effort. And to do it for someone else is even more remarkable.
Not to mention that this is a very rare machine, so it was no easy task...

For those that are unaware, the Thruxton was an extremely limited production motorcycle built as a racing bike, although some were sold for road use. It was the Ducatti 916 of it's day. Only 1108 were ever made and it still holds the world record of the fastest average speed over a 24hr. period for motorcycles 500cc or less...

 

[jessetay91]

See, this is why I often hate the explosions of giftcards. My family holidays pretty much consist of passing around giftcards to different stores--no thought involved. Why not just save the money if you're going to do that? On the upside, pretty much everyone my age (college freshman) hates--despises, really--giftcards and what they stand for. So there's still hope

Back to the gift at hand, which shows that a gift can be so much more than the exchange of money: it shows that a person truly knows you well enough to get you a gift that really touches you. Cash can never do that. That's pretty rare today, so you're especially lucky!