Wave by Wave

Bowflex opted not to return my email requesting sponsorship so I opted to buy a Bio Force instead. My intent is to build-up strength in my legs, but my wife is praying a novena for a buff body promised a long time ago. Let’s see what happens.

This evening I continued my training by taking my two sons out on our first ever father-son bike ride. It was great. My oldest son crashed into his brother and went flying over the handle bars. Soon thereafter, my youngest son lost control, planted both of his feet on the ground, and proceeded to fly into the air over the handle bars as well. After a hug and words of encouragement, I put them both back on their bikes and said, "Let's keep going." It hurts me to see them hurt, but I need to teach them resiliency so they can preservere and eventually take off their training wheels.

That is something I am learning all over again with this whole running and blogging thing. Nothing worth attaining in life is ever just given to you.  You really have to step out in faith and work for it.

This theme brings me to one of my other childhood heroes, Rick Kane. Rick was just an ordinary guy surfing wave tanks in Arizona, but he had a big dream. Too bad for Rick his dream was truly disproportionate to his abilities. Rick dreamed of surfing the big waves of the North Shore in Hawaii. An impossible feat for even the best surfers, but especially impossible for a surfer from Arizona. Rick persevered though, and made it to the North Shore after winning a wave tank surfing competition and earning enough money to buy a plane ticket to Hawaii.

Once at the North Shore, Rick attacked his first wave – one the locals called a “toilet bowl ripple” - with reckless abandon. With his confidence boosted he moved on to a much larger and powerful wave. It almost killed him. As luck would have it a beautiful Hawaiian girl, Kiani, saved him from further calamity by rubbing aloe on cuts inflicted by poison coral reef he had scraped across.

Destiny was on Rick’s side and he met one the coolest dudes ever, Turtle, as well as a surfing master and surfboard shaper, Chandler. Chandler took Rick under his wing and trained him in the art of “soul” surfing. Rick was an obedient student and little by little he progressed in his abilities. After an an ass whooping or two, a romantic affair, and a break-up/make-up, Rick self actualized and entered a pro surfing competition. In the final showdown its Rick against the world surfing champion, Lance.

The difference between Rick and Lance is Rick is a “soul” surfer and Lance is a "shredder".  Rick and Lance have a brief chat during the final moments of the competition.  Rick is laughing to himself and Lance annoyingly asks him what he is laughing at because they are both about to lose the competition (no waves in sight).  Rick simply replies, "I'm just glad to be here."  Then a wave rolls in and Lance, the bastard, cheats Rick out of the title by pulling on Rick's surfboard leash just as he is standing.

Not to worry though. Lance is caught on camera and makes the local newspaper headline. Rick leaves Hawaii and his new love to go to art school in NY, NY. Chandler sends him off with a custom made surfboard.

The lesson in all of this? Dreams require patience and at times a lot of personal growth before they can be realized. And when you do achieve them, remember it was the journey that mattered most.  My "soul" friend from Thailand always tells me, "Savor the journey not just the destination."  Great advice in line with tonight's lesson.  Thanks G.

On a side note, here is a clip from North Shore - another one of the finest movies ever produced in the ‘80s. In this clip Rick is learning to surf the North Shore wave by wave and board by board (add a few wipeouts here and there as well).



If you like the song here is a link to download it from iTunes.

Gary Wright - "Am I the One"