JD's Journal : Thanksgiving

Once again, a Thanksgiving swell - smooth, offshore, well over head high in parts of the beach, and just a fine, fine thing. A two hour session - two hours of energy given away to the universe for no other reason than it makes us feel great.

And driving home, time to think, once again, about how many things have to come together to get that experience: living by the sea, the storm out near Alaska, the offshores close to home, being healthy and fit enough to paddle out, having money for boards, wetsuits, a car, having a family that is fine with me disappearing for most of Thanksgiving morning. It's a lot of stuff - easy to take foregranted until there's a change - financial, family, health - and then the wonder of being able to paddle out at Ocean Beach on a Thanksgiving morning suddenly becomes so obviously special.

So a quick promise to value every session, enjoy every wave, hold life a little tighter for a while. Until I forget, and life gets to be a hassle and I start getting hemmed in by crowds, or bummed by the south winds until Thanksgiving, or something like it, rolls around again.

my email is: jdj@pacificwaverider.com

an archive of these columns is here