Thanks, Andy!

I might not have even gone out this afternoon, if it weren't for Andy. I would have missed one of the best sessions this month.

I was walking home from work, and I knew it had been offshore all day. It didn't really bother me. I was surfed out. I'd had a great day at work. Things had come back to me today that I had invested with the kids. Yes, it was, overall, a pretty wonderful life today. But, it was going to get nearly perfect.

So, I was feeling pretty good, walking back home, not a cloud in the sky, thinking about going to dinner with my friends. I was surfed out after yesterday's session at the point. My back was feeling a bit sun burnt. I wasn't worried about surfing at all today, really, because all the reports said it was small, small, and smaller.

Then I checked my cell phone for messages. There were three. One of them was from Andy, telling me he had used his lunch break to check the surf, and had ended up surfing for two hours in fun, fun waves. You might think about checking it after you get off work, he said.

Suddenly I didn't care about my sun burnt skin, or how surfed out I was. I threw the fish in the car, and took off for tenth street. When I got there, I could see it was small, but so perfect... the wind was directly offshore with not a cloud in the clear blue sky. There were only about five guys out. I raced out there. Chris was out, goofing off on a log with a couple grommets hooting him on. We talked about stuff, life, and he remembered that day, long ago, when he caught a ride to the point with David and I in the blue van. Chris is such a great kid. So humble and kind.

I caught so many perfect little waves this afternoon, and all the time I thought about how I wasn't even going to bother.

Moment to remember: This gorgeous left wedged up, with no one around but me. I stoked for it, could see it had the perfect shoulder, tapering down the line. I dropped in, and just pulled into it, pig-dogging it. Some college guy was swimming around on the inside, and I had to thread the needle past him. When I came out, his buddy, who was standing inside with his board, was hooting his head off at me. I could see him smiling, his teeth so perfect and white, his brown skin glistening in the sunshine. The light was so perfect this afternoon, amplifying everything in a golden surreal light. He looked so amazed, I see his open mouth, him looking at his friend like WHAT WAS THAT? and his friend shouted to me, "Nice wave!" I said thanks! and paddled back for more. There were rights that just opened up every single time, it was just ridiculous. I can't even imagine how good Bob caught it this morning...

And, to think I nearly missed it. Thanks, Andy! I owe you...