Change in Priorities

Seems my topic has been change lately. I have also received some grief for not surfing, also been told I am not part of the group since I don’t surf as much anymore! Ouch, kinda hurts.

But I get it, my friends want me to surf, they want me to surf with them, its fun when you surf with your friends. Besides, I make good comedy when I blow it!

I guess at this point in my life, my priorities are a little different. I am 45 yo, I have one kid, my son who is 9. I know I only have a short window of time to spend with him where he will actually want to spend time with me, so I am taking advantage of that.

I volunteer in his class. Today for example, while the surf will be good and my friends will be out, I will be helping to teach a PE class at 1pm. I coach his Fall Baseball Team, take him to FNL football practice, pick him up from school every day, he got into fishing, so we fish; I take him to his batting coach. Then, I actually try and get some work done. I only seem to be able to work between 9:30 am and 2:30pm, then again at night after 7:30pm. As a Self-Employed Real Estate Appraiser in a shitty economy, I have to take work when it shows up. The first half of the year was the worst in the past 8 years, no orders and nothing but time, but I was on injured reserve, so no surfing. Now, I have so much work I am turning things down.

I am trying to balance stuff, but some thing has to drop down the list, and unfortunately that is surfing. Sure it bums me out, I enjoy surfing with my friends.

I’ll be out when you least expect it. I‘ll be the one that drops in on you, then blows it!

But for now it is different.

For now it is not about me…………….

Things Change..

Things change…

How true that is. I have not done a post in awhile, because I did not have much to say. Summer ended, and school started for my son. Things got back to a routine. I did my annual guys Trip, we call it TresFest, but now we go to San Elijo, so we call it San Elijo Fest. The surf was good, but I got sick right before it started, so for 3 days I was a walking zombie at the camp, all wacked out on antibiotics and Codeine.

So, fast forward. I was telling my son we should try surfing at Blackies in Newport. It’s a great spot I said, real fun you would like it, best of all, when we are done, we can get Hot Chocolate and Donuts! We can meet VR and his son too, what do you think? “Sure Dad sounds good.”(Bingo!)

So today we get up and head down there, and we could not have had better weather. A classic California Fall day, sunny, no wind, warm, just a great beach day. We get there and wait for VR and his son, watch the waves and the surfers. When I say surfers, I do mean ALL of them, the place was packed! I notice all kinds of kids with dads pushing them into the water, some kids on their own, old guys, young guys, girls, newbie’s, and kooks. But what I like best was the vibe, just all about fun.

Cole and Michael surfed, got off there boards and jumped in the waves, played and had a good time. He only surfed about twenty minutes, but then he was in the water playing too. To me it was all good; it all creates his awareness of the ocean, an understanding of waves and how they break. It all will add up to his surfing knowledge latter.

We got our donuts and hot chocolate, walked out on the pier to see what people were catching, and looked out at some fun waves on the south side.

He and Michael both asked me and VR, “Can we surf on the other side of the pier right now?”

Yes, things are beginning to change…….