A Life of Balance

Now that the weather seems to want to turn cold, I'm getting a bit contemplative about my surfing and my family. Everyone who knows me knows I'm always cold in the water. What makes that worse is I hate neoprene. Nevertheless, it's time for the winter waves to arrive. I won't even go into my belief that these waves will clear out our cluttered lineups. I realize that I've come to like winter (if you can call what we have in Southern California that). It forces some balance into my life.

When the weather is warm or hot, all I want is to be outside. What I want even more is to be in the water. If it weren't for the running out of steam after a few hours thing, I'd probably stay in the water all day, family be damned. When summer arrives, it's all about me even though it really isn't. I'm still a wife. I'm still a mommy. I never forget those facts. But I feel like it's my time of the year to go outside and play. It's the time of the year when I take advantage of all of the "me time" I can get. Once there's a bit of chill in the air and a lot of chill in the water, I'm much more of a homebody. I still surf, of course. I also complain . . . a lot. I stay cold from the minute I leave the house until I return to a hot shower. My surf sessions are abbreviated. I can only stand so much cold water. After about an hour, I'm thinking about home. By an hour and 30 minutes, my head is already home, snuggled up with my husband and son. I don't want to stay out all day.

This, I think, is a good state of balance for me. It seems to work for us as a family. It also keeps surfing from occupying too much of my quality time.