Imagine my surprise to discover, in my late fifties, that I'm bipolar! Looking back over my life however, I could see a steady parade of "high spirited" behavior, starting in my teens. A period of "off the rails" behavior followed my college graduation, and dominated my life for about five years. This was the period of a bad "I can make this work!" marriage, too much alcohol, risk taking and crazy behavior. During the fifth summer of this period I did something I'd wanted to do for many years - I bought a 12 speed bicycle. After I began cycling my crazy behaviors came under better control, and soon the time that I most valued was that which I spent on two wheels. In late August of that summer I embarked on a romantic relationship with Libby, whom I had known as a Subaru customer. It would be five years before we married, but that relationship and our future plans and dreams brought balance into my life almost immediately. I had always been aware of the presence of depression in my life. It was something that I had experienced going back into my early childhood. What surprised me was that even in my new life with Libby, depression was still be present. I would point to something that must be causing it - a back injury, an upset in my frequently rocky family relations, a roadblock to our future plans... Something needed to be causing my depression! I was close to 50 when I finally realized I didn't need a reason to be depressed, I could be depressed for no reason at all! In my early fifties, under a doctor's care, I began taking an anti-depressant. Soon my depression seemed to evaporate! What we didn't realize was that my diagnosis was incomplete. I wasn't simply depressed, I was bipolar and as many bipolar people I sought help when I was feeling so low life just wasn't manageable. With my depression in check I moved through my fifties in one long manic cycle! Bicycling played an important part in helping me out of that manic cycle which had taken over every aspect of my life. This didn't happen overnight! There is some overlap with this memoir to my previous memoir "An Angel Unaware". The primary focus of "Angel" was our experiences with our six Elkhounds over a 35 year period. While there is a five year overlap between the two memoirs, the stories and events are so differently focused that they would seem to be two entirely different stories. That seems to be the nature of our multi-faceted lives! I have minimized the information about those overlapping Elkhound experiences in hopes of moving this narrative more smoothly. It is my hope that this memoir might help and encourage others and their families, who live with Bipolar Disorder, find a way to live fuller, more successful lives.