Waiting upon the Lord takes on new meaning when you've been searching for companionship for over thirty years. Such was the case for Tim and Debbie Bishop. At age 52, the couple finally found in each other that special someone they'd been searching for years to marry. They moved from marriage proposal and wedding, to Tim's "retirement" and relocation, to embarking on their cycling adventure in only ten weeks.
Early reviewer Scott Emack knows this isn't just another travelogue: "Framed within a coast-to-coast biking odyssey with its daunting challenges lies a deeper and engaging view of discovering ourselves, our relationship with a loved one, spiritual connections, and answers to the nagging quest for juggling our priorities. Two Are Better will no doubt inspire you, but the fun in these pages is riding along with the Bishops."
Over 100 color photos supplement vivid descriptions of their magnificent surroundings. Embrace life like never before. Read Two Are Better, and begin your own quest to more adventuresome living.
Two Are Better: Midlife Newlyweds Bicycle Coast to Coast
Waiting upon the Lord takes on new meaning when you've been searching for companionship for over thirty years. Such was the case for Tim and Debbie Bishop. At age 52, the couple finally found in each other that special someone they'd been searching for years to marry. They moved from marriage proposal and wedding, to Tim's "retirement" and relocation, to embarking on their cycling adventure in only ten weeks.
Early reviewer Scott Emack knows this isn't just another travelogue: "Framed within a coast-to-coast biking odyssey with its daunting challenges lies a deeper and engaging view of discovering ourselves, our relationship with a loved one, spiritual connections, and answers to the nagging quest for juggling our priorities. Two Are Better will no doubt inspire you, but the fun in these pages is riding along with the Bishops."
Over 100 color photos supplement vivid descriptions of their magnificent surroundings. Embrace life like never before. Read Two Are Better, and begin your own quest to more adventuresome living.
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Two Are Better: Midlife Newlyweds Bicycle Coast to Coast
by Tim Bishop, Debbie Bishop
Tim Bishop
Two Are Better: Midlife Newlyweds Bicycle Coast to Coast
by Tim Bishop, Debbie Bishop
Tim Bishop
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Overview
Waiting upon the Lord takes on new meaning when you've been searching for companionship for over thirty years. Such was the case for Tim and Debbie Bishop. At age 52, the couple finally found in each other that special someone they'd been searching for years to marry. They moved from marriage proposal and wedding, to Tim's "retirement" and relocation, to embarking on their cycling adventure in only ten weeks.
Early reviewer Scott Emack knows this isn't just another travelogue: "Framed within a coast-to-coast biking odyssey with its daunting challenges lies a deeper and engaging view of discovering ourselves, our relationship with a loved one, spiritual connections, and answers to the nagging quest for juggling our priorities. Two Are Better will no doubt inspire you, but the fun in these pages is riding along with the Bishops."
Over 100 color photos supplement vivid descriptions of their magnificent surroundings. Embrace life like never before. Read Two Are Better, and begin your own quest to more adventuresome living.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940166967336 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Open Road Press |
| Publication date: | 05/15/2013 |
| Sold by: | Draft2Digital |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 5 MB |
About the Author
Debbie Bishop is an overcomer with boundless energy and an adventuresome spirit. Transparent, relatable, and fun best describe her writing. She holds a Masters degree in literacy from Lesley University and has taught for over thirty years. Following a long road to recovery from addictions and regrettable choices, Debbie married at age 52. Two weeks after their wedding, the Bishops embarked from Seaside, Oregon—on bicycles—and pedaled to the coast of Maine in two months. They have cycled thousands of miles throughout America and have lived to tell about it. Thanks to these adventures and other life experiences, the Bishops’ coauthored books overflow with wisdom, hope, and joy. Their devotional from the seat of a bicycle, Wheels of Wisdom, earned first-place book awards in Inspiration, Christian Devotional, Christian Nonfiction, and Christian Inspirational. Originally from New England, Debbie lives in Middle Tennessee with her husband. At age 52, Tim Bishop left a successful career as a corporate treasurer, married his dream girl, and embarked with her to parts unknown—on bicycles. Tim and Debbie have since coauthored several books about their midlife bicycling adventures. Wheels of Wisdom has won eight book awards, including four 1st-place finishes. Publishers Weekly dubbed the book “a roadmap for life.” The Bishops bring a strong Christian foundation to their inspirational, self-help books. In addition to his writing and publishing endeavors, Tim volunteers as a “HopeCoach” on TheHopeLine, a help service for young people who are struggling with life issues. Tim is a three-time Maine chess champion, a CPA, and a consultant for small businesses. In 2014, he penned and published a business book, Hedging Commodity Price Risk. He is still out to prove that the writing contest he won as a college freshman was not a fluke. The Bishops blog at OpenRoadPress.com. Dan Miller is a life coach and New York Times bestselling author of 48 Days to the Work You Love.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Getting Started
Every story has a beginning. Ours starts on April 22, 2010, just eight days before my retirement from a twenty-six-year career in the corporate world. There we were, atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. What had taken decades was finally beginning to unfold with the words, "Will you marry me?" Wow, I thought. I have always wanted to say that. I wonder what this will be like. Debbie, a literacy specialist in Massachusetts, and that unique, God-chosen other half of me, accepted my proposal. Life was about to change at breakneck speed.
One adventure leads to another two weeks later One thing was immediately clear to both of us. There was no need for an extended engagement. Fifty-two years had been long enough to wait. We soon set our wedding date for June 19.
I have also always wanted to bicycle across America. As it turned out, so had Debbie. In fact, her 1994 list of things to accomplish before she dies said so. Moments after our magical engagement, still atop Cadillac Mountain, we broached the idea of a crosscountry bicycle trip as an extended honeymoon, an adventure to celebrate the union of two lifelong singles with birthdays only fifteen days apart. Life was about to begin in earnest. Was there any reason to put off such a grand way to celebrate our newfound gift? The shackles were off — and we had a lot of catching up to do. What better way to get started?
Within a couple of weeks, it became clear that cycling coast to coast was not just a passing fancy. We were both interested and serious about the adventure. Could we make it all the way across the country before Debbie's return to work in late August? And, with both of us fifty-two years old, could we even make it across the state of Oregon, let alone the Rocky Mountains? If we made it that far, how much time would it take to ride the next 3,000 miles?
Frankly, completing the trek seemed trivial at the time. We were embarking on the ultimate getaway for not only bicycling enthusiasts, but also a much larger populous. Haven't most people ridden a bicycle as a child and fantasized about the freedom of the open road? We would worry about the details later. Certainly, there would be plenty of airports sprinkled along our route, wherever that would take us. We were not going to deny ourselves this opportunity. We decided to pursue it with reckless abandon — and with a new companion by our side: one another!
What ensued over the next several weeks was nothing short of amazing. In just two months, we would be husband and wife, pedaling bicycles and carrying items needed for our journey, most of which we had not yet purchased, all the way across the country. And, before we left, I would vacate my apartment of twenty-five years, sorting through my belongings and placing into storage those worth keeping. From scratch, we would determine our wishes and needs for both a wedding and a cross-country bicycle ride. Debbie's teaching obligations ended two days before our wedding. Thankfully, I could now dedicate myself full-time to prepare for both events. We would worry about the rest of our lives later!
CHAPTER 2Our Story
To appreciate the significance of our coast-to-coast bicycle trip and the life to follow, you first need to hear another story. What was it that brought two fifty-two-year-old lifelong singles together? We shared some significant passions yet lived hundreds of miles apart. Well, if you are suspecting the Internet, you understand only a small part of the story.
Longsuffering
On New Year's Eve of the new millennium, I had vowed in a church service to entrust my desire for a husband to God, denouncing an old approach that left me emotionally bruised and empty. I still longed for companionship, but I wasn't going to obsess about it. I had made a decision to reinvent my life in 1996. After twenty years in Colorado, I moved to New England with neither a job nor a place to live. I'd had a strong impression that God would answer my prayers for a husband after moving East. I went back to school for my master's degree, began work as a literacy specialist, and discovered the benefits of a commitment to a local church.
Like Debbie, I had endured years of loneliness, even while enjoying blessings in other aspects of life. I had forever been praying for a companion, or so it seemed. Everything within me and around me — what I had learned as a child, observed in others, learned from the Bible, and experienced in my own life — told me that God would provide a special companion. However, it seemed so elusive for so long. Finally, I became so tired of praying about it that I tried to focus more on enjoying what I already had. Work became both a blessing and a curse. It filled time with interesting and productive activity. I enjoyed it and excelled at it, but it proved to be an inadequate substitute for the love that the right woman could offer. Despite the frustration of my unfulfilled desire, I still longed for that special someone to complete me.
Journey into Cyberspace
As our parallel longing for companionship intensified, Debbie and I decided to use the Internet to help locate prospective mates. Because I was leery about whom I might meet online, I was merely looking for a casual friendship. I could always assess further potential once I became better acquainted with the more promising women.
So, in 2003, we met on a website that we had each tried for only a month. Since Debbie's one-month trial membership was free, I will always be able to remind her that she got what she paid for. But, then again, I only paid $10 to discover her. There she was, with username "JoyfulDebbie," coyly snuggled next to a statue, sporting her cute dimples, sassy short hairdo, and Colorado ski sweater. This looks interesting, I thought.
My decision to go online followed several years of growing spiritually and personally. After some intense school-work and beginning a new job, I was looking for some fun — meaning a Christian man who loved bicycling, skiing, and hiking. But I was hoping for a serious relationship, too.
When I first saw Tim's profile online, there wasn't much to look at — well, what I mean is, he didn't post a photo. But, because he enjoyed bicycling and lived close by, in Maine, I decided to consider him further. So, we began corresponding.
In the five years that followed our introduction in cyberspace, Debbie and I spent only a handful of times face to face. Yet, we developed a meaningful and supportive friendship by becoming, in effect, e-mail pen pals. We first met in person for a bicycle ride in Keene, New Hampshire, in 2004. I arrived first at the Monadnock High School parking lot. Moments later, when Debbie zipped in and bounced out of her Toyota Echo, I could see she was well-matched to her small car — at least until I saw her power-lift her bicycle from atop its roof-mounted rack. Whoa! I thought. Is she strong or what?
When I first saw Tim, I noticed he wasn't wearing the typical biking apparel. As we got to know one another, I could see that this didn't matter much to him — and to me, either. After our ride, we enjoyed a dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town and then parted as friends.
Debbie and I enjoyed our time together in New Hampshire and related well to one another. We had the basis for a good friendship, but there were no instant fireworks. Although we shared an intense passion for both the Christian faith and bicycling, the time was not right for us to come together in a more intimate way.
I had two serious relationships between the fall of 2004 and January 2007. The first man seemed on the surface to possess many of the interests and qualities I was looking for in a husband. In time, however, the relationship soured and ended abruptly, leaving me hurt again. My relationship with the second man seemed destined to fail from the start, but accelerated to a wedding engagement. After listening to the counsel of others and the depth of my own heart, I broke off the engagement and eventually the relationship.
Since we continued to correspond during her two serious relationships, I could see that these painful experiences were preparing Debbie for a deeper and more lasting attachment. She was developing greater emotional security and growing spiritually.
In the meantime, I invested a lot of time on another matching website, processing through literally thousands of so-called matches. Although their program identified these women as compatible with me, a quick review of their profiles made it clear they were not really matches at all.
People who knew me over the years, and even some who did not, had offered advice with the best of intentions, but usually failing to understand my perspective. I hated that. Often, the inference was that I was to blame — it was my fault I was still single. They eventually backed off. I think they began to realize I was adapting to bearing my own cross. Or perhaps I had just stopped sharing my woes, and they had concluded I would always be single and contented with it. I was just thankful when people quit bugging me about it.
Then there were others — and I know Debbie had them, too — who were truly supportive. When heartache and frustration resurfaced and we needed some understanding, they listened well but stopped short of trying to fix a problem they could not control. They then joined us with their own prayers that we would each meet and marry God's best for us.
Work Matters
Aside from our failed, self-managed matchmaking attempts, Debbie and I each lived full and meaningful single lives. We were busy, some might say entrenched. Professionally, we overinvested in our jobs. After years of praying for a compatible companion who loved God, we each wondered whether the possibility of marriage was passing us by. That's not to say we had given up hope, but this was the backdrop leading to the life-changing events that finally began to unfold.
Even as Debbie and I began spending more time together at play, something was also beginning to brew at work. In late 2006, a change in leadership occurred at the top of a company I had worked for since 1983. My long-term boss, a highly respected finance expert with impressive mettle and judgment — and a one-time heir apparent to lead the company — was passed over for the head job in favor of another vice president with a different skill set, demeanor, and persuasion. I can still remember the day of the announcement. The feeling in the pit of my stomach suggested an impending end to a long-term work relationship, one to which I had given untold personal hours and devotion, and for which I had been well compensated. The process, though, took over three years to unfold.
In late summer of 2007, the company hired an individual from outside the industry as its chief financial officer. He had led a large organization in the past and the company wanted to strengthen its senior management for succession planning purposes. The prior CFO had devoted much of his attention to overseeing the company's substantial real estate portfolio. Therefore, in my role as treasurer, I was already functionally overseeing and performing many of the responsibilities expected of my new boss. From my perspective, the introduction of this new CFO suggested that God had something for me elsewhere and was preparing the way for my departure. In fact, I'd had a strong impression when I assumed the treasurer role in 2004 that God was preparing me for something more, stretching me in new ways, adding leadership experience to my already well-developed technical skills.
It would take time to shed the significant responsibilities I had shouldered. At the peak of my responsibility, I managed five mid-level professionals who helped oversee accounting, internal auditing, and information technology for this multimillion-dollar company with more than 1,000 employees. At the same time, I was defining and executing the company's primary commodity hedging program and dealing with a major operational crisis as a board member of a mission-critical joint venture. The company was also undergoing significant and long overdue changes to its back office systems. It was a stressful time, one that took a significant toll on my ever-shrinking personal life. But it was also an exciting, fast-moving time.
In order for my future to unfold both professionally and personally, I would need to let go. The deep ties and great experiences I'd had with this company would not make the process easy. Like a parent whose children someday leave home, I would need to accept that change was imminent. In effect, both functionally from the company's perspective and emotionally from my own, I had become stuck. It would be some time before I could break free.
There can be both a false sense of security and an unhealthy dependency on money when embedded in a long-term job. Sometimes, you can grow and mentor others, sometimes you can become too comfortable, and sometimes you can reach a dead end where the flame of your drive, knowledge, influence, and enthusiasm diminishes to a flicker before it fizzles out. I had experienced all of these phases, but my flicker was about to become utterly quenched. Circumstances change and we change — or we should. Sometimes, the human psyche struggles to catch up, to recognize growth has stopped, and to muster the courage to move on. I slowly came to appreciate that unlimited options await those who are willing to take a risk. As the new CFO acclimated to the company, a long transition period ensued. Others were being equipped for functions that would ultimately pave the way for my departure.
Friendship Blossoms
In December 2007, Debbie and I celebrated our fiftieth birthdays after the official dates had already lapsed. I drove to Massachusetts and, after a bowling outing, took Debbie to Harvard Square for the premiere of a movie entitled What Would Jesus Buy? I thought, This will be fun. I've never been to a premiere showing before.
Tim and I had now reached the official age of maturity — and maturity comes with its advantages. We qualified for our first senior citizen discounts. But I have to admit, I was rather insulted when they didn't ask me to verify my age.
When we walked into the theater, we saw only about thirty people amidst a multitude of empty seats. We then watched the satirically orchestrated spoof on shopping in America, complete with a white-suited evangelist, his tour bus, and his choir. Although I'd seen better movies, I had never been to one where the lead actor visited us in person after the show.
A late-night meal capped off a unique, enjoyable, and memorable evening. Sometime after midnight, I headed north and stayed at a motel en route to Maine. It had been great to see Debbie again and share in our common milestone, but we still had our separate lives. We returned to them while continuing to stay in contact through e-mail.
Having a guy who just wanted to be friends was a new concept to me. I felt comfortable and safe with Tim. Because the emphasis was on friendship, we established trust early in our relationship. There was no pressure, no need to impress — just two fifty-year-olds enjoying each other's company.
In 2004, I had purchased a condominium at an inopportune time. While conventional wisdom told me home ownership was a wise investment, the real estate market collapsed in 2008. Like countless other unsuspecting homeowners, I saw the value of my condominium fall below my purchase price and my mortgage balance. To make matters worse, I needed to use credit cards to bridge an unintended cash deficit. I then took a second job waiting tables to meet my financial obligations. An active social life became a casualty.
As difficult as this experience was, it really put some perspective around the illusory "American dream." In fact, it shattered the dream. I became a slave to this so-called dream as I wrestled to free myself from its grip. Work came to define my day-to-day existence. I realized I needed to manage my finances better. I had my home, but the baggage that came with it changed how I would view it in the future. The American dream is not all that people think it is.
As Debbie was coming to terms with her financial woes, I watched from the sidelines and continued my own struggles with a challenging situation at work. Although I wondered about Debbie's cash crunch, I also could see she wasn't standing idly by feeling sorry for herself. Instead, exercising honesty, humility, and hard work, she recognized a problem, sought help and counseling, and worked to free herself. I had always enjoyed Debbie's company. She was fun and brought joy to our times together. We also shared common spiritual beliefs that accentuated our comfort level. But, now, she had earned my respect.
I wanted to understand whether God might be bringing us together as more than just friends. I struggled to understand how to get to know her better when she lived so many miles away. I wondered what she would be like if we spent larger blocks of time together. Being good friends is one thing, but experiencing everyday life in close quarters is quite another.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Two Are Better"
by .
Copyright © 2012 Timothy G. Bishop and Deborah L. Bishop.
Excerpted by permission of Open Road Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword iv
Preface vi
Chapter 1 Getting Started 1
Chapter 2 Our Story 3
Chapter 3 A New Day Dawning 23
Chapter 4 On-the-Job Training 35
Chapter 5 Climbing Out of the Valley 57
Chapter 6 Facing Our Fears 69
Chapter 7 We Can Do This 97
Chapter 8 Tornado Alley 113
Chapter 9 Urban Travel 139
Chapter 10 The Homestretch 165
Chapter 11 Simplicity 189
Epilogue 195
Trip Log 196
Acknowledgments 198
TheHopeLine 199
What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
I strongly suspect that Tim and Debbie’s story will inspire you to reevaluate your own life story and to add your own elements of new meaning and purpose. Enjoy the journey!
–Dan Miller, Author and Life Coach
Framed within a coast-to-coast biking odyssey with its daunting challenges lies a deeper and engaging view of discovering ourselves, our relationship with a loved one, spiritual connections, and answers to the nagging quest for juggling our priorities. Two Are Better will no doubt inspire you, but the fun in these pages is riding along with the Bishops.
–Scott Emack, Retired English Instructor
This book is a real gem—you’re in for a rare treat! Two Are Better is a love story, a captivating journey, and an inspiring testimonial of faith. Be prepared to have a hard time setting this one down.
–Mark Gries, National Development Director, Dawson McAllister Association
Two Are Better is a tale of inspiration, courage, and dedicated love. You will love this story. It is written from the heart.
–Ken Goodin, Writer, Composer, and Musician
Two Are Better is a fun, inspirational book that reminds us that adventure can happen at any stage of life if we are willing to embrace it.
–Jill Hoyt, Homemaker and Avid Reader
Two Are Better makes a clear point that waiting for God’s best in all things is worth the wait, even a very long one.
–Tim Altman, CEO, Dawson McAllister Association and TheHopeLine
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