After months of planning and saving every penny you can the day comes when you are packing the van with surfboards and camping gear for a week of surfing. If you are really lucky maybe you are packing your boards in a surf-bag to be flown to some exotic location. It doesn't matter where you are going and for how long, the excitement of sharing good waves with my kids is the same.
The last day of a surf trip is a strange day. In my mind I want it to be the best, a day that gets marked in my memory as the day my life made sense. Sitting in the line up with my kids is a spiritual experience. There is not a lot of talking. No one wants to acknowledge that we are going to have to say goodbye to mother ocean and to each other and none of us wants to face that reality. However, it never plays out the way I imagined it in my head. Maybe, that is the problem. I want to orchestrate this perfect ending to a great trip instead of allowing the memories of the previous days summarize the experience.
Upon returning to my daily routine plans are being made for the next trip.
Life's lesson: my daughter and her husband just moved to Sao Paulo to teach for two years. I knew this day was coming and at first I wanted to plan the last day with them to be the best. But, then I remembered the lesson of the "last day of a surf trip". I allowed my mind to summarize the memories of our times together. I can still hear the laughter of my daughter and the loving bantering between her and her husband. I smile. A tear. My heart is full. Full of love.
I have stopped worrying about the "last day". I have learned to cherish moments, big and small every day. I don't talk about the "last day", but about the next time we will meet and how much fun we will have.
The last day of a surf trip is a strange day. In my mind I want it to be the best, a day that gets marked in my memory as the day my life made sense. Sitting in the line up with my kids is a spiritual experience. There is not a lot of talking. No one wants to acknowledge that we are going to have to say goodbye to mother ocean and to each other and none of us wants to face that reality. However, it never plays out the way I imagined it in my head. Maybe, that is the problem. I want to orchestrate this perfect ending to a great trip instead of allowing the memories of the previous days summarize the experience.
Upon returning to my daily routine plans are being made for the next trip.
Life's lesson: my daughter and her husband just moved to Sao Paulo to teach for two years. I knew this day was coming and at first I wanted to plan the last day with them to be the best. But, then I remembered the lesson of the "last day of a surf trip". I allowed my mind to summarize the memories of our times together. I can still hear the laughter of my daughter and the loving bantering between her and her husband. I smile. A tear. My heart is full. Full of love.
I have stopped worrying about the "last day". I have learned to cherish moments, big and small every day. I don't talk about the "last day", but about the next time we will meet and how much fun we will have.
