good evening. woke up to a dark cold morning and 2 hours later, it was sunny and warm. kenji called me up to go surf and i was on it. pulled up to tsujido and the waves were so good. chest high and perfect. i was stoked…. surfing is the best. the best way to refresh yourself. the water was dirty like miso soup but it was ok. just being in the miso soup water felt good….. ahhhh, surfing rules!!!! can’t wait till tomorrow….
went to sleep last night thinking about something. i did an interview on my good friend matchi while i was in shikoku. one of the questions i asked him was about his injury he had 5 years ago on the north shore. i just asked him casually about it but when i looked at the video last night, something he said hit me. it was 5 years ago when i got the call. a call from a doctor at kahuku hospital telling me that my friend was in really bad condition. i asked him who it was and when he told me norihiko nakayama, my heart sank. gosh, i was just surfing with matchi earlier that morning. what could have happened? matchi went back out to off the wall that afternoon to try to get a photo. he went on a wave he shouldn’t have and hit his back straight on the reef. the doctor told me over the phone that matchi had spinal injury. and said it was really serious. they called in the military helicopter and had him flown to queen’s hospital in town. gosh, i still remember waiting outside the emergency room looking for the helicopter. it was getting dark and then i heard it coming. it came out from behind the mountain and that’s when i realized it how serious it was. it didn’t seem real. it seemed like a movie or something. my heart was pounding as the helicopter landed near me. they took matchi out of the helicopter and rushed him into the emergency room. i wasn’t supposed to, but i just walked in. when i first seen matchi, oh my gosh, he was in so much pain. i could just see it in his face. i asked the doctor if he was going to be ok and the doctor didn’t answer me. that’s not good. i kept on telling matchi that he was going to be ok. but to tell you the truth, i was scared too. i thought he wasn’t going to be able to walk again. and i think he thought the same too. they gave him some pain reliever and took x-rays. it took a few hours that seemed like days to get the results back. but when it did come back, matchi was a lucky guy. he fractured his back and was going to be ok. it took him a while to rehab but he fully recovered. that day was so long ago but i remember it as it was yesterday. so getting back to the interview question about his injury. matchi said that when he was younger, he didn’t think about death. and now that he’s older, he thinks about it more and makes better decisions. that is soooooo true…. so last night when i was trying to fall asleep, i started thinking about all the times i stared death in the face. i couldn’t even count. when i was young, i didn’t care if i died so i put myself in too many crazy situations. i just didn’t think about it. but when i knocked out under water at backdoor 3 years ago, and almost drowned in mexico 2 years ago, i really thought about it. really thought about how lucky i am to be alive. lucky to be enjoying this life i have with my family and friends. i appreciate life 100 times more than i did 10 years ago. the sport we’re in, your life could end in a split second. it’s happened to the best surfers in the world so it can happen to anyone. so you young surfers out there, be careful and make good decisions. and to you older surfers, i don’t have to say anything because you probably feel the same way as matchi and i do. everybody surf safe. one wave ain’t worth dying for. there will always be another wave tomorrow….
**matchi interview coming soon….
