It’s funny how life throws curve balls.
We’ve been going to the same beach with the kids for the past couple of years. Once of the reasons for going to this particular beach is that the surf is pretty gentle. It’s not my cup of tea- I’d prefer stuff a little more substantial for body surfing and what not. But if getting the kids to enjoy the ocean is the goal, then smaller surf is the order of the day.
So naturally, on this day, probably our last visit to the beach this year, the surf is rough. Ironically, the Wife and I were having a conversation on the way down alluding to the possibility of exposing the kids to rougher surf next summer. At that point, the idea of larger waves intrigued the boy but he was glad he wouldn’t have to deal with them for awhile.
Like I said, life throws curve balls.
In my case, it was getting the boy and the lass to try out the water. In the kids case, they had the prospect of facing waves that they weren’t so sure they were ready for.
A situation like this calls for some finesse. A little … subtlety. So I decided to charge out into the water and start body surfing. After all, it had been awhile since I’d been in some decent sized waves- I might as well take advantage of the situation. The water was cold but it was still fun.
I had been in the water about 20 minutes and was watching the waves roll in waiting for them to build up so I could make a few more runs when I glanced back at the beach. There was the wife flagging me down. It seemed the lass wanted to get in the water. So I helped her out and held her hand. I showed her how to jump into and over the waves just as they were breaking. After about 10 minutes, the boy decided to join us. He even waded out to where the lass and I were on his own. Since he’s bigger he was able to hold his own.
And the rest, as they say, is history. They spent a good part of the rest of the day in the water. As the day wore on, the tide went out and the waves got smaller. But the big deal for the day was that the kids had risen to the challenge. The two of them were even trying to body surf. Now they can’t wait for the next chance to get to play in big waves.
So yeah, life threw us a curve ball. But it turned out to be a high hanger and we took it yard.