yesterday was raining pretty much all day long. i seen my nephew Noah at my brothers house so i asked him if he wants to go to the pool. i tried to get him to surf with me for the past 5 years but he refused. then i thought “maybe today is the day?” so i put him in my car and tell him, “sorry, the pool is dirty today. let’s go look for turtles.” he looked at me like “what are you talking about?” he seen me put the surfboards in the back so i could tell he was nervous. i don’t like to trick little kids into surfing, but sometimes you just have to.
we get to the beach and it’s raining hard. i put him on the board and tell him “hey, who ever sees the turtle first gets a dollar!” we paddle to the outside and the farther out we got, i could see him getting pretty nervous. he asked “uncle, is it deep here?” i told him, no, the pool is deeper. that was the truth. but once Noah started paddling and the board moved forward, his face lit up. i could tell he was stoked!
we get to the outside and it’s pouring rain. so hard that you could barely see. then i think “how the heck am i going to catch a wave without him freaking out???” so we start playing in the ocean way on the outside. jumping off my board and swimming around. this kid had no clue he was way outside waiting for a set. haha.
then a wave came. i said “hey, let’s ride this little wave. you don’t have to stand up. just hold on tight.” he didn’t answer so that means no. but i paddle anyway and once we started moving, i could see his facial expression turn from nervous, to stoke.
i catch the wave, stand up behind him, and yell “stand up!!! grab my hand!!! stand up!!!” he grabs my hand, he stands up, and this is Noah’s first ever wave ridden. we ride it for a long time and i thought we should go in because i didn’t want to push him too much. he yells “again! again! again!” those were words of joy to my ears!!!!
we go back out, catch another one, another one, and another one. Noah didn’t want to go in. and he also didn’t want to hold my hand anymore.
if a kid falls the wrong way, he will never ever surf again. but if he falls the right way, he will surf for the rest of his life. so when the wave is ending, i tell the kid, “lets jump off together!!!” i grab his hand, i fall first, hold his hand firmly above the water so his little body doesn’t penetrate the water too hard and hit the reef. then while the kid is freaking out, i start laughing like we just got out of splash mountain at disneyland. then he laughs and won’t be afraid to fall again.
then we do some breathing exercises underwater. haha. look how cute his kid is!!!
Noah is 7 years old. i’ve known this kid every since he was born. the craziest thing happened yesterday. crazy meaning, i’ve never seen Noah smile like this before. yeah, in the past 7 years, i never seen this kind of big smile before. it was a new smile for me. it was a new experience for him. we get in the car and he asks “uncle, can you please bring me to the beach again?” i said “of course kid, anytime!”
