Boogie Boarding with Barb

After 39 years of approaching life fairly cautiously (when my daughter asked me if there was anything I was afraid of, there were so many things I could list, I was afraid to answer) I have decided it is time to start saying yes. Not ‘no, I don’t do that,’ or ‘yes, if it will make you happy.’ But -- hell yeah, yes!

So when Barb, fabulous new-friend-kindred-spirit, Barb said she was going to the beach by herself, saw me drooling with envy and asked if I’d like to come along, I said…yes! Not ‘we don’t know each other very well, let’s just have lunch before we spend a full day together on a first date,’ not ‘I would love to but I don’t know if I can arrange the childcare and I have so much work to do’ But, yes! And when we got to the beach and Barb asked ‘Wanna boogie board?’ I said yes again, though with a little less conviction.

I’m not a great swimmer. I’m afraid of drowning, riptides, jellyfish, hypothermia, tsunamis. I may have tried a boogie board once when I was younger, but this one was like an alien object - I scanned the horizon and saw a kid with one attached to his wrist. Well, that answers that question – I would have attached it to my ankle and probably been dragged to my watery grave.

Boogie boarding with Barb was the best time ever – apart from being delirious at playing hooky from real life for 3 hours, I actually relaxed a little in the water, comforted by having something to hang onto (the board, not Barb). And then when a wave came out of nowhere and pummeled me senseless, I staggered up to hear Barb cheering “You did it, you were totally upside down!” Apparently my two legs stood straight up out the water for a moment. Without even trying.

Hell yeah, yes!