i watched shaun white win his gold medal on the halfpipe at the winter olympics in nagano. he looked like he was having so much fun! he was constantly laughing and joking around, even during the stiffest competition of his life.
i was 39, and i was tired. i had spent my whole life working 60ᇤ hours a week, volunteering in my off time, and raising a kid. i rarely laughed, and i yelled at my 6-year-old daughter a lot more than i wanted to admit. i wanted to have additional fun, and be silly like the Flying Tomato! i believed about learning to snowboard, but there’s no snow here. then i saw shaun do a mctwist on a skateboard, and that’s all it took! i desired to know what it was like to fly from the air like that. i knew i’d need to function difficult. i figured it would take about a year to study to skate like shaun white.
one day, i asked my dad to take care of my daughter, and drove to the local skate shop. i parked the car and took a deep breath. i prepared myself for ridicule. i didn’t know anybody who skated, and i was sure there were no adult skaters in my area. i walked in and told the 17-year-old street skater behind the counter that i desired to find out to skate ramps and bowls. i had no idea what to invest in, i had never set foot on a skateboard. the store clerk stared at me for a great minute (or what seemed like it), and then went to work. he showed me diverse boards, trucks and wheels. he explained the virtues of each, and let me select after narrowing the selection down to two or three. an hour later, i had a really nice very first setup. he suggested that i purchase a helmet and some pads, too as some special shoes. i thought all of that may be unnecessary, but followed his advice anyway. the store owner rang me up. he said that i’ll fall a lot at first, and that most women prefer longboarding.
i took my shiny new board house, and stood on it for the very first time within the living room, on the carpet. i fell almost instantly, and my dad laughed. my wrists hurt! i laughed too.
see? it was already functioning.
inside last three years, my job has been on autopilot, i’ve quit most of my volunteer perform, and i’ve suffered much more injuries than i have in all my other many years put together, all the direct result of skating. it makes me sad occasionally when i think of what’s gone, but i can’t say that i regret any of it. for the first time, i’m being true to myself. i’ve laughed far more, learned a lot more and loved much more than i’ve in all my other years put together. and i don’t yell at my daughter anymore.
