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October 19, 2005
BLOWN AWAY!!!
got off work and b-lined it to the my getaway spot "up" there. was paddling out and found this other guy on a long board aiming for the same peak i was for some solitude. at first i was a bit peaved as i thought that i had made a discovery. so when we both arrived simulataneously i gave him the hey how ya doing?. he said fine and i decided that this guy was cool and we'd share some waves. he seemed a little agresssive, but wa happy to trade as it was just us. so we get to talking and he says "ya i was sick for a while and i haven't surfed in two years". so i'm thinking ya sure, but then i notice the skin discolorations and lesions that are healed, but still are showing somewhat and damn if that guy couldn't paddle. even more amazing is he didn't back off on the sets. so more talking going on and then it hits me...i mean HITS ME...i know this guy and a year ago he was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors had at one point given him weeks and then days...and for one reason or another he clung to life by threads. i mean IT WAS OVER!!! one night i i up at a friends house and he was laying 100yrds away dying. it ruined my night and i couldn't even go back there until i thought it was over...it really struck me how scared of death i really am. now almost a year later this guy shows up charging waves with me. for lack of a better word i was flabagasted. and to think i wasn't even going to go surf and even more pathetic was that i had an attitude toward this guy paddling in my direction...what an asshole of me to think such fucked up thoughts. i can tell you this that i am now less of an asshole than i was 5hrs ago and i'll try to make a point to reality check my attitude toward other people in the lineup and around everwhere else. you never know the person next to you may have a new lease on life and the last thing they need is some flak from an idiot that doesn't even realize how good they have it. on top of it all i got an in-n-out.
i've never been one to say this, but what the hell...PEACE.
Posted by megaprober at October 19, 2005 08:35 PM