I can't believe the Ladies of Hive community are up to their 230th challenge. That's nuts. Kudos to them for creating a lovely community, as well as giving me opportunity to talk about my most favourite thing in my life right now, again.
Like most Ladies of Hive, you probably have plans and goals for the future, but today let's focus on the present. Tell us what part of your life you enjoy most right now.
This was today's crowd at my local break. The weekends suck surfing, as it can be ridiculously busy with all the people who have moved to the coast to 'enjoy the lifestyle' that we've been enjoying the last fifty odd years on our own in the sleep coastal towns with great waves. But it was big and windy in most places, so this break was the only surfable spot for a lot of people. I'd paddled out early because even if the tide isn't just right, I'd rather get waves when it's less crowded.
This week has been an incredible week for waves after a few weeks of nothing. It's been glassy and off shore - meaning the wind blows off the shore to hold the waves up, and the surface is like, well, glass - or silk. Perfect. I toted up my hours in the water for the week and including the weekend, I got fifteen hours in the water, which would have been more except on Friday I didn't surf as I got an ear ache (resulting in me getting some 'swimmers ear' alochol solution to displace the water and some ear plugs which I hate). I think I am turning into a fish.
Being in the ocean is pure zen for me - mostly. Crowds and surf boats and drop ins across the line up can really make me middle aged aggro, so I tend to avoid those situations as I am in the water to chill out. Everything just feels better in the water - I feel lighter, more in my body, more in the present moment. Other people might get that walking in the mountains or snowboarding - sports in nature just slow things down a little more and make you feel more at peace.
It's also a way to feel closer to my Dad - my best mate says the same. Our Dads were both surfers, so we grew up playing on the beach waiting for Dad to come in or going surfing with our Dads. One's dead, one has alzheimers, so the only way we get a relationship with them now is through ghostly memories - the smell of wax, someone zipping up your wetsuit, paddling. I am not sure if the ocean is my mother - more my father. Perhaps both.
It's also my social scene. I dont have a lot of close friends, and I'm a little isolated in my life, and I don't like people I work with nor do I have a permanent job. So I like chatting to the other woman out there - and the blokes. Many I've known since I was a kid, or for years surfing the same breaks together. We chat in the car park, text each other to ask what it's like, sit and chat between the sets, hoot each other onto waves.
It's a way of keeping fit too. I'm lucky to be able to surf SUP and longboard and often switch over half way through a session or maybe session to session, just to exercise different muscle groups and challenge myself. You certainly get some good bursts of cardio on a wave and my arms are pretty muscley from paddling - though I'm getting older, and not as fit as the young woman out there. And because I love it so much, I tend to do excercises at home just so I can stay fit for surfing - planks, situps, jump ups, weights.
It's not easy to be married to someone obsessed by surfing. Just like my mum, Jamie's often home alone doing stuff without me if the surfs on. I feel guilty sometimes, but bottom line I'm just a a better version of me if I get salty.
With Love,
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