Surf's UP!

OK. So, yes. I'm astronomically accident prone. We've clearly established that and have this as Exhibit A.

BUT...I also like to fancy myself as the adventurous sort and will offer up this as Exhibit B.

And (I hope) I've made it clear that I'm ALL IN along this journey of making the most of all that life has to offer in the here and now.

So despite the tendency to, uh, bruise like a peach, I just can't slow down when it comes to not only living my life, but fully experiencing our groovy little world. Along those lines I finally did something last weekend that I've been wanting to do for ages.

Several years ago I heard about a surf school in San Diego called Surf Diva. Hello...could there possibly be a better name for an establishment created to teach women how to conquor the ocean and surf?? Two sisters started Surf Diva about 20 years ago, and while they began as an surf school for women, they are now ranked as the number one surf school in San Diego (and they're even willing to help the surfer dudes out there get up and hang ten).

I knew as soon as I heard about them that THIS was a place I wanted to go to learn how to surf. So when I had a work trip to San Diego pop up, I immediately made plans to come in early and booked my first surfing lesson.

And the surfing? It is CRAZY FUN!

It's a sad thing that there are no action shots, because, y'all...I actually did WELL at this new venture! Carla and Shayna are clearly talented instructors, because I got up on my second wave and rode the third. But of course I started to overthink it and struggled a bit. (My instructor asked what I do for a living and then ascertained that I seem to always be plotting what my next step is going to be.)

That's not me at all. Except, you know, EXACTLY.

Apparently this is a sport that requires one to stop thinking about it and just "feel the waves" and once I did that I got back up and at 'em.

The pictures are certainly not my best...but I couldn't care less, beacause they were captured on a day that I smiled from ear to ear for HOURS. And so here they are completely untouched.

Just me and my board. SO SAD that my eyes are closed:

With bad ass Carla:
The newbies, Mel and Shayna (instructor in training):

I can feel it--I'm definitely hooked.

And I'm already plotting my next time out.

Ante Up

A year ago I thought I was the happiest I had ever been. I was madly in love with a guy I thought was “the one” and after a long time of waiting to find Prince Charming I thought everything was falling into place and it was all going to happen. Finally. All those things I wanted so much—passionate love, a great marriage, kiddos—would move from being things I dreamt about and become my daily life.

Yeah. Well. It clearly didn’t pan out that way.

Literally overnight we went from talking about marriage and dreaming about our future together to him telling me that this was over. In a word? Blindsided. In another word, devastated.

I’ll spare you all the messy details and just say that those were some dark days that followed.

But now it’s been almost a year, and you know what? I can honestly say that I’m happier right now than I have ever been. WOW. I did NOT see that coming. (And this is the kind of blindsided that I can get on board with.)

The thing is, I finally figured something out. It’s a funny thing to be 36 and single. It’s a state of being that most of world can’t relate to, and—most of the time—doesn’t quite know what to do with. Those of us in this life stage are often “other.” And I’ve spent a lot of time waiting and wanting to escape this category and fall into some idea of life that qualifies as “ordinary.”

And I regret to say that in my case, that waiting equated to mostly going through the motions while wishing I’d been dealt a different hand. Um, what’s that all about? What a waste of perfectly wonderful life. An extraordinary one, even.

And so at some point—without even realizing it, really—I got in the game and started to play the cards I’ve been dealt. And you know what? It’s a pretty fabulous hand.

I see it all around me—people who are stuck thinking about how green that grass looks on the other side of the fence. And it’s not just the single set. It always throws me for a loop when I hear people who have all things I think I want complain about their husbands or constantly tell me how their kids frustrate and exhaust them and rarely choose to focus on the light and love and joy that they bring.

It seems to me that we each have dozens of choices to make every day. And among the biggest of those is choosing how we’re going to look at this crazy little thing called life. I still hope that someday I’ll have the chance to be a wife and mom--and if I get that hand I’ll do all I can to play it well. But those aren’t the cards I’m holding right now.

And there’s no way I’m going to fold and go home.

What choices are you making today?

Me? I’m ALL IN.