What a Nice Surprise!

There's been some swell in the water over the last two days.

I'm not all surfed out. I'm close though. I hadn't expected to be in waves this size this soon after the knee replacement. I enjoyed every moment.

Something has changed. Much like those who cheat death and view life for what it is, I feel like I've been given a second chance. During the recovery, I was never entirely sure that I'd pop-up on a surfboard again. My yin said that I would. My yang said that I would not. Now that I am back in the water, I appreciate surfing (as well as matting and swimming) even more than I did before the surgery. And I was extremely appreciative back then!

I was pretty much spent after yesterday's session, certain I'd need another day to recover. Well, by the time night rolled around, I was asking Soul Brother #1 for today's DP surf pass. There was somewhere we needed to be by 8:30 this morning. If I was going to surf, it had to be at dawn. We hadn't expected the waves we got yesterday. That was a nice surprise. I kind of figured the energy would continue into today. I wanted in!

I was there at dawn. I was in the water by the time the sun really lit the sky. I got my fill. In fact, I got the wave of the DP session from what I could tell. It was a bomb! My yin told me not to paddle for it. My yang called me an impolite name, pointed out that people had paddled for and missed the other waves in the set (thus leaving me as the only person sitting on the outside) and commanded me to go. And go I did. That thing was big too—definitely overhead. One of the reasons why I usually make waves like that, I mean waves whose size scares me, is because once I've committed I'm more fearful of not making the drop than I am of sticking it. These days, my fears in the water are much less than they once were. Part of that is the swimming. I know I won't drown. The other reason why I have less fear is the knee replacement. Everything about that surgery scared me. But here I am, titanium parts and all, surfing again. Once I'd faced down the fear of that surgery and all that it involved, I never looked back. I'm not going to let fear keep me from progressing. I also have enough sense to know when I should be fearful. Today was not one of those days. Today was a day to charge. So I got that bomb. All eyes were on me. There was no way I was going to mess that up.

(No, this isn't the bomb.)

Have a good weekend, everyone! I'll probably take a few days off to let my shoulders rest. Go find yourself some waves!