The Ocean

There has been a lot of death circling my circle of friends this year. Four of my friends have lost their mothers this year, and another friend is on the verge of losing her father. It sucks, and at the same time, it makes me appreciate the parents I still have, and the fact that I can still tell them that I love them and spend time with them.

The following is a transcription of a message left by my friend, Donny Duckbutter, who recently lost his mother. I've been trying to get him out to surf, but it's been hard to get out at the same time. I went surfing one morning without him, trying to egg him on to come out even though he showed up, saw the surf, and turned back. It was a shitty surf session, but friends were out, and so that session was a good session for me.

I always say, "Surfing is always fun, but it's a hundred times more fun when your friends are with you." 

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From Donny Duckbutter, aka Matt on August 28th, 2014:

"Yesterday… no, not yesterday, the day before yesterday, when I went to Trestles… I kinda realized that surfing definitely saved my life during the time when Lauren and I broke up… but to kinda clear my mind about my mom passing and everything, it was nice going out there but it’s definitely going to take more than surfing. 

I was out there, and I definitely didn’t feel comfortable staying out there, so I came back and cleared out my garage and did some other things that I wanted to do. But at the same time, it was nice today to just go out local and the surf really wasn’t that great, but it was so therapeutic.

When I got out of the sand and was showering off and I looked and the sun was just perfect, you can see the pier and conditions were just awesome… and it kinda made me realize that it’s easy being picky as a surfer, and be like, 'Aw, it looks like shit,' and then leave, but then you’re kinda cheating yourself on the experience.  It does suck to get skunked, but I think that’s part of the whole surfing [life]: Getting up early and driving in the dark, getting out there and meeting a couple of your friends out… you get your fill, like maybe one or two waves on a day that’s not so great, but it’s just so nice when you don’t have to travel so far for [surf] because you don’t feel like you lost too much.

I stayed local today and paddled out on such a beautiful day, and it was just a wonderful way to start it… it’s so therapeutic… I definitely… I can appreciate that more now."  

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Indeed, surf isn't every thing, but it sure helps in our daily lives. When we're happy, we're glad we surfed. When we're sad, we're glad we surfed. We never regret paddling out and say, "Aw man I wish I hadn't paddled out today." Every session is beautiful. Every session we gain something we didn't have before. Every session is magical. And every session begins and ends with the Ocean. 

Mahalos Mother Ocean.