Surf The Waves...

Life is so funny. It just brings this overwhelming feeling sometimes--and you don't know how to handle it.

When I moved to California, I was so excited to surf whenever I wanted. However, I had only surfed Hanalei Bay in Hawaii prior (reference above pic).

 I fell in love with surfing. It became a passion of mine--a passion that I still struggle to be good at (because I'm not that good). It is so irritating sometimes--I just want to get good.

Cali brought on new waves. New ass-pounding waves (in many areas of my life). They are so unpredictable here. I can't believe the surf reports I read on surfline.com. Trying to predict waves is like trying to predict the weather--it's a bunch of crap.

The struggle is real. Cali is so different. I still don't care. I still strap my board to the car, and go. I will eventually figure this out.

 It is so humbling to be out there--and some of these waves are BIG. They kick my butt. They toss me, and hurt me, and challenge me. But I keep going out. And I won't stop. When I catch them--it's like the biggest high ever. EVER.

I had my twins out here a couple of weeks ago. I paddled out with one of them through the impact zone, and she kinda freaked out. She ended up going back to shore. My other kiddo paddled out with me, battled the impact zone, and had a great sense of humor on the other side of it. She was like, "OMG--MOM!!! Those waves were HUGE!!! I was laughing so hard about getting pounded that I thought I was going to choke on the saltwater!!!" 

We were on the other side of the impact zone and sitting on our boards (and we were FAR away from the beach), she said, "Mom, do you think there are sharks out here?" I said, "Of course there are sharks out here!!! This is where they live!!!! This is their home! and we're trying to surf in it!!!" She said, "MOM!!! Lie to me!!!" At that point, we both cracked up, and just enjoyed the moment. Then I tried to paddle into a couple big waves and she was yelling at me. She said, "MOM! What the hell!?! Do you think you're Laird Hamilton (pro big wave surfer)?!? 

I don't think I'm Laird. However, if you are going to fight your way out to the waves, you might as well try to charge them. It's a lot like life--if your're going to fight your way through, you might as well see what's at the end of it--even if you get tossed. At least you paddled in.