22 January 2010

The Weight

The problem with the rain, particularly rain of seemingly Biblical proportions, is that inevitable feeling of being trapped indoors. And when one is trapped, one is prone to thinking too much about things which would normally be washed away by a few hours in the ocean.

I have a life apart from surfing. Most surfers do. I will admit, though, that my life is incomplete without surfing. Thanks to the rain, I am unsurfed.

I've spent an inordinate amount of time perusing the halls of YouTube over the last 40 days and 40 nights. (It's felt like we've had that much rain!) As I sit here now listening to Traffic jam "Dear Mr. Fantasy" on a separate tab, I keep coming back to The Band. They know how we surfers, skaters and other outdoor-centered people feel right about now.

I suppose what I'm trying to articulate is that surfing helps me to both shoulder the weight of life and, when I'm lucky, completely shrug off the weight of life. Sometimes, you have no choice but to shoulder your load. Surfing certainly makes you stronger in that respect. But when you can't surf, you can feel those knees buckling, trying not to give way from the strains and stresses that we all inevitably deal with every day.

I know the ocean will be there when she's recovered from this bout of seasickness. Once she's feeling better (and cleaner), I'll paddle out so that I can feel better as well.

4 Comments:

At 1/22/10, 9:06 PM, Anonymous just4valzfriendz AT yahoo said...

Wow, you sure hit the nail on the head! I've been SO depressed all week, even though I wouldn't dream of going out into that nasty bacterial soup from the runoff. Out of control, double-overhead waves aren't my thing either, and yet I keep checking all the wave cams with lots of wishful thinking. Did you see the stuff on YouTube about clean little peelers in LONG BEACH? (Clean shape, that is, unfortunately NOT clean water.) I was actually tempted!

Missing my surf time definitely has made me more stressed about other stuff too, just like you said. Mostly some tensions and conflicts at work for me.

I met you one time down at San-O and told you I love this blog. I saw some postings of yours on the Beer Can Beach blog too recently. That has become another favorite spot to surf for me lately - since I'm in the OC, my parents are in Ventura, and I visit roughly every other weekend. The waves are fun, but mainly I love the mellow people! Hope to see you there sometime and maybe you can introduce me to some of the others that post there, like Christian and Birdie - I'm so impressed with all her ocean knowledge.

well take care, hope we will both be surfing soon! Val

 
At 1/22/10, 9:54 PM, Blogger Surfsister said...

If I recall, Val, you were the woman who spotted me as I was just driving by. If I also recall, I was trying to keep an eye out for your car (as you'd written to me about your license plate holder), but you spotted me first. LOL!!

If you see me at BCB, paddle up and say hello. Christian and I rarely see one another in the water. For some reason, we're never out there at the same time.

We'll all be back in the water soon enough. In the meantime, I've gotten back in the pool to maintain my surf fitness.

 
At 1/22/10, 10:32 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

nicely done. i would wait...until it cleans itself up...for sure. wait/weight/wait. -ozzie

 
At 1/23/10, 10:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is how I feel right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNM0UvR_Bo

 

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