Little Surfers

All I wanted to do this weekend was surf. The whole summer has gone by and I did not get on my surfboard once. No time in L.A.. The second week at Stinson (my surf week!) the beach was closed due to a Great White Shark sighting. So this morning we packed the board on the roof and headed to Santa Monica. A beach break with shitty waves but I am so desperate I just didn't care. If I aimed for Ventura or Malibu we never would have pulled it together. And I figured I would be so lame after not being in the water for a year that it didn't matter where I went. I just needed to get in the water!

So I did. The day was overcast, the water glassy and smooth. I surfed for awhile, wiped out a lot, and at least managed a few wobbly pop-ups on the white water. But I was happy. The positive ions floating above the water did their trick. Still, after awhile I gave up. It wasn't just me not catching waves. Nobody was.

I paddled in and told Theo it was his turn to try. He practiced a few pop-ups on the beach. I told him to fall back, and not on his butt. And then I took him out and told him to just ride the big board in like he was on a giant boogie board--because he has mastered the boogie board. I pushed him into the little waves twice, and he rode to shore perfectly. The third time he stood up. The fourth fifth and sixth time, too. He was adorable. I almost broke down and wept. It is a moment I have dreamed of since I was pregnant. Seeing my boy love the water, and stand, in stink-bug stance, on a giant long-board and ride to shore.

Then Benji wanted to try. Jonathan already was warming him up on the shore with tiny pop-ups. I took him out and told him NOT to try to stand up. To just try to hold on. Boards are big. Fins are sharp. I got him on and pushed him into a little wave. He rode to shore. The second wave he got to his knees and shakily stood up. I couldn't believe it!!!!

He rode another and then my fin broke from scraping on the sand in the shallow water--and being really really old. That was it. We went to get my fin replaced and the dude at the surf shop high-fived my boys but told me I shouldn't let them on such a big heavy board. They need foam.

We had seen a surf accident slightly earlier. A dude on his board slashed his leg open and the life guards and paramedic rushed down. We were too polite to go closer, but could tell it was bad.

"Oh, he slashed his leg open. The muscle is bubbling out," said an English tourist who walked by us. My God. His language was too vivid.

I was a bad mother. I let my boys surf the old way--on my giant fiberglass board. But what joy it gave me!

Theo wrote at school this week: "My bucket is full when I go to the beach."

Me, too. And my bucket overflows when I see my boys loving the water like I do. It is something they will always have.