Simply Stoked

It was on a Saturday.

The wind was whipping up

a rare opportunity

to surf at Big Hickory Pass.

Mom dropped me off

around ten that morning and

instructed me that

she would pick me up

in the "afternoon." 

I began surfing my heart out,

trying to make up 

for the extended period

of calmness in the Gulf.

I was alone at the Pass!

Being surf-starved and hungry for waves, 

I had Big Hickory Pass beach all to myself

and owned all the waves without competition!

With great surprise,

my aunt arrived to pick me up,

and it was only one PM!

I told her "One o’clock

was not the afternoon.

I had four or five o’clock in mind
and was not ready to go yet."

She relayed a message

from my mother that

if I did not return

with my aunt,

I would have to walk home.

She left without me.

With reckless abandon

I surfed for four more hours,

catching every wave that I could.

When I finally had enough,

there was no car waiting for me

to whisk me away.

I was alone,

eight miles from home,

sunbaked, windblown,

salt-cured, surfed-out,

tired and hungry.

My hiking apparel was

a bathing suit, t-shirt, and

converse tennis shoes.

With my surfboard tucked under my arm

and my towel draped around my neck

I began my eight-mile trek home.

After a mile into the walk

along the beach road,

three young girls stopped

and asked if I wanted a ride.

I politely declined…

To this day I could kick myself

for turning down three beautiful girls and their generous offer.

Nearly three miles into the journey

a man stopped and offered me a ride.

I eagerly took it.

I told him my sad story

and he took pity on me

and dropped me off at my house!

Mom was in the kitchen preparing supper

and acted as if nothing happened.

The lecture never came.

She probably figured

having to get back home on my own

was punishment enough; 

nothing more needed to be said.

If I had to do it all over again,

I would do it the same way,

except for turning down

the three girls offering me a ride home;

now, that was stupid!

My mom and dad never understood

the affinity I had with surfing.

Her early pickup turned out to be

simply a matter of convenience for her,

not missing her nap time.

 

Before me was a rare opportunity

to surf for four more hours

with the entire beach all to myself!

I was too simply stoked to let it go.

If my mom would have told me what she meant by "afternoon," I would have asked her to drop me off at the beach, and I would either catch a ride or walk home. I was on a natural high that day of simply stoked. Surfing will do that to you. It is something non-surfers will never understand.