I swear to God, by around 11am this morning, I was about to lose it. Okay, okay, I am so lucky, and have so much, so I have no business even whining about such trivial things. But, here I shall rant. Leave whenever you want.
It all started yesterday... I had my little list of things to do after work, had been productively ticking them off, when I came to the last one: Go by Sean's/bribe him to change flat tire on bike (my weak little circus midget hands just couldn't). I was looking forward to seeing his new dog, Pete.
Somewhere in between playing with the dog, and getting the bike wrestled out of my car, I lost my keys.
There is that slow wave of sickly panic that ensues when you think you have lost your keys. Maybe I set them down by the door. No. Maybes went on and on until the only one left was the possibility that they were locked inside my car. Sean was level-headed and cool through out. I, on the other hand, began to feel like a vice was being tightened on the back of my neck. We ended up calling my insurance company to get help to unlock the car. In the meantime, as we talked about it, the realization came over us that if the keys were NOT in the car, the alarm would be set off with no way to stop it. It was night time, by then. I called and canceled the roadside help. I had to call my landlord to let me in my apartment to get my spare car key, and Sean had to drive me across town to get it. There were other complications I will not add here, tedious, tedious. Neck pain growing...
We decided to wait until morning light to search any further. I didn't sleep much. I kept mulling it over, retracing my steps, and it seemed I woke up every hour. Finally, just before dawn, it hit me. I was tossing the ball with Pete in the backyard! Maybe the keys had fallen out of my pocket. I listened to the wave/wind forecast. Seas were 8 feet at 9 seconds! The wind had gone more SW! The tide would be low at 9am. I would run over to Sean's, search the yard, and be in the water when the tide turned.
I was on my way to Sean's, when he called. "I am drying them off as we speak," he said. They had been just where I thought, in the yard, in the rain, right where I had been tossing the ball. I was so happy at that moment. Things like that make you realize what is important in life. KEYS!
So, on to the next debacle... Andy called, the winds were howling at the beach. Arrrgh. I am off today, it was too good to be true, I knew. But, wait...
I went back home and did some cleaning, keeping an eye on the wind reports every few minutes. About 9:30am, I looked to see it was SW! I raced out the door with the Dominator.
The pier looked like crap! Brown and disorganized, not enough west in the wind to do the job. I reckoned I would go to Matanzas, where it might be better. Once there, it looked decent, better than the pier, and Andy was calling. He had news from Terry Nails that Crossovers was looking good. Andy said, "If Terry thinks it looks good, it must be. He never goes out unless it's good." That was when I sighed, so far away from that spot. I called Bob, who was unaware that the wind had turned. He went into hyper-mode, and was out the door. I told him about Matanzas and Crossovers.
I wasn't going to hear that I had missed Crossovers later, so I turned the Prius back north. Jesus, this driving is ridiculous, all over for waves that look like crap, and I had a feeling with the incoming tide, that I had already missed that window of opportunity. But, on I went. Andy wasn't far behind.
But, once at Crossovers, I could see it was a bust. The parking lot was packed, and guys were running with their boards to the water. As soon as I was atop the walkover, I could see it was not that good. It had size, but the tide was filling in, the waves were backing off, and 50 guys were bunny-hopping through sections, ugh. Andy called, and I gave him the update. I had saved him that drive, at least. I, on the other hand, was getting edgy. WHEN was I going to SURF? It seemed all I was doing was DRIVING! Plus, the wind seemed to be turning to the NW, and that sent me spiraling downward. By the time I would get BACK to Matanzas, it might be all but over. UGH. That was when dreams of moving to New Zealand resurfaced... Just then, Karen pulled into the parking lot, and we talked about life.
Bob called to see how it was. I told him to stay at Matanzas. Andy was on his way, and so was I. Then, when I got into town, I began to cross the bridge, and damn, the bridge went up. Andy called at that moment, and that was when the wrath of holy hell was unleashed. WTF? I was rabid, ranting, I think he thought I had finally been pushed over the edge. "Just go surfing!" I ranted. "I will get there someday, like when the friggin' wind turns onshore!" He told me he was going out where Bob was headed, to the outside of the inlet, and to paddle out there.
When I finally arrived, it was almost noon. I looked at my watch and could not believe it. What I do for waves is insane! Around here, it is a game that seems impossible to win lately. But, wait.
As I paddled out, I tried to think of all the good things. Look! There are waves, and I am off work today! Look! The water is warm enough for boardshorts, still! Look! The sun is coming out. And, as I got out into the line-up, I could see there were only a few of us. There was Pat Hamilton, and Tom Burns, and look, there's Bob, and Andy! The waves looked much bigger out here than they had looked from shore, and way better than Crossovers. I saw one wave pitch out so far you could have stood up in it. I watched as Tom caught a good one, overhead, a peeling right, sparkling in the sun. Maybe my timing wasn't so bad, after all. If I had paddled out earlier, I would have been cold and tired by now, and I would have missed all this! I stroked into my first wave, a big one, and BAM! I pearled right to the bottom. That board feels so small, like a plastic nickel under my feet. That hadn't happened to me in awhile, and it felt like a continuation of the day so far. Okay, back on the horse. My second one was better. These waves had some size, and my third wave felt even better. With every wave, I got a better feel for what the board could do. By the end of the session I was on such a high. It was so great, being out there with just friends, laughing in the sun, riding a new board.
When I finally paddled in, I didn't know Bob was right behind me and sneaking up. He scared the living crap out of me, and thought he got me good. He was laughing so hard. But, then I was laughing, because he turned around, saw this wave about to unload on his head, and yelled "OH SHIT!" This made me start laughing so hard that I almost choked on saltwater. Then we rode the same wave in on our bellies, Tom, Bob, and I, smiling the entire way, which set me off laughing hysterically again.
Yes, the bad luck had officially ended. Surfing has saved my sanity, once more.
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