In every young person’s life there are those moments of learning new skills that are etched in our memories as a joyful event that we carry for a lifetime.  Hopefully Tobyn and Paisley, my nephew’s kids, will remember spring break 2018 as one of those golden moments.  I certainly will.  They are studious hard-working kids who spend more time preparing for their future than most, and they deserve this time in the sun.  The water was, I won’t lie, frigid at best.  The sky was overcast and offered little sun to warm us.  No problem for Tobyn and Paisley.  This was their chance to check surfing off their bucket list, and they weren’t holding back.  Dad Joey had to brave the water too, when he realized they weren’t going to learn through osmosis.

The first day we brought out the long and very stable paddle board.  After some frustrating (and icy) falls, they both got up for at least a moment.  Joey and I thought after an hour of so of wipeouts, they would turn to other fun stuff, like floating the lazy river.  Much to our surprise, after a good night’s sleep, they woke up the next morning to tackle the surf again, this time with a real surfboard.  Sheer determination and will powered them out there to even bigger surf.  Aunt Rita (that would be me) stood in thigh-deep chilly water as far as I could force myself to go, opting to take pictures rather than show my pathetic knowledge of surfing.  At the end of the day, the exhausted family headed back to civilization with a promise to come back within a month and finish what they started.  I can’t wait!