One With the Wave

This week has been a dream. We made a pact at the beginning of last week to eat somewhere different every day. It was finally warm enough to go surfing, AND yesterday we moved to the cutest little Airbnb for our last week here.

As far as the food search goes, we had no problem trying something new every night.  We went to three different taco stands, a coffee shop, a pizza place, and of course revisited our favorite spicy teriyaki restaurant and ice cream shop.  It was a foodie’s dream, so naturally, it was a dream week for us. 

My favorite part of this week? The weekend. We decided that we were going to take the board out since it was finally in the 70s and since it was our last week at that slice of beach. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous at first.

Ever since the last time we sailed and the boat got a hole in it, I have been a little afraid of the ocean. If you know me, you know that is not normal. The ocean has always been a place that soothed me. Anytime I swam in it I felt like it healed me. It was a place of contentment and joy. Dad used to tell me, “Say hello to Mother Ocean when you’re there” if I was going to the beach without him. I get a lot of the love for the ocean from Dad, so I’m not surprised at how much I love the way I feel when I’m near the water. But since the last sail, I’ve been a bit scared. That trip was one of the times in my life where I’ve been most scared. I haven’t talked about it that much, because we’re okay and everything ended up being fine, but it was terrifying. And now, being so close to the water so often, I’ve had to accept the fact that it’s okay now. We all have those bad experiences with things we love, and then we find our way back to them. It’s hard to admit that the sea scared me. I’ve only actually told Steve about it, and that was only a couple of days ago. So, my trusted readers, there’s my secret!

Anyways, we drove the board down to the water, wetsuits half on and ready to be zipped up, and we made our way to the beach.  As soon as I got in the water I knew things would be good, fine, perfect.  I knew that even though we had this hard experience in our home on the water, we would find our way back to her.  In fact, we already had!  Steve started out on the board, and then I took my turn.  Mind you, I haven’t surfed in God knows how long, so I was very proud of myself when I got up on the second wave.  After that, it was all reflex again, and man did it feel good.  I get why Dad loved it so much, and did it for such a big part of his life.  It’s so freeing.  It’s like you become this one big ball rolling forward, wave + board + human together.  Or, “one with the wave,” as Dad likes to call it. It was the best I’ve felt in a while, and I loved every second of it.  We went Sunday also, because it was too good of a time not to.  I guess the moral of the story is to keep doing what you love.  Even if you think you might not remember how, or might not be good at it, do it anyway.  If it’s a place or thing or activity you love, please please please don’t stop.  It feeds you.  It gives you strength.  It builds you into the person you know that you are.  And oh man does it feel so good to feel those things.  The only person you can be is you, so you might as well do what makes you feel the most alive.

To say we were worn out would be an understatement, but the kind of worn out where you’ve been in the sun and sand and saltwater? That, my friends, is the best kind of tired.

Yesterday we moved to a new airbnb. It’s on the water, tiny, and SO SO SO CUTE. The owner lives upstairs. He’s an expat who used to be in the seafood business, so he knows a lot about the local cuisine and has loads of recommendations. We went to a cute little brewery co-op last night and got a brew and some food, and it was beautiful. The seating was right on the water so we continued our sunset viewing as we had dinner.

This trip has really made us think a lot about where we want to live, both this year when we get back and in the future.  We love being near the water, and I don’t think that will ever change.  But, sometimes you have to make exceptions because things are not always available when you want them to be, or in the right price range, or maybe they don’t allow pets.  Needless to say, the housing search has been a bit stressful.  We’ve applied to one place, but we realized it doesn’t have an egress in the bedroom we’d be in, which is a bit of a problem when planning a fire escape.  So, we are keeping that option open, but we are still considering other properties.  There’s a lot to consider, because we want to be near the boat, but we like the North End or Ghent area better, so there have been a lot of “pro & con” discussions recently.

Honestly, as long as we are doing this thing together, we know we’ll be fine. It’s just a matter of finding the right place for us and Buoy.

For the rest of the week we will hopefully do some more surfing (we saw a couple of guys out there today). We’re leaving Friday and heading up to Long Beach to catch up with Steve’s cousin, and then back to AZ! These past couple of weeks have gone by FAST, but we’re making the most of them.

Hope this blog finds you well.

Happy reading,

Skye

THIS WEEK (more pictures):