Journey of Surfing

Things could be worse. Yes, no truer statement in all of the universe. Things can always be worse and strangely enough, I have always sought comfort in that thought. I sit, in this moment, early morning of the 4th of July, on an empty beach except for those determined to work in the day’s exercise. I woke up to glassy big waves and within minutes my eldest son and I walked to the beach and I set up camp and he slowly and deliberately fastened on his leash as he monitored the large sets. He has caught only one wave thus far, they are a bit bigger than he is used to, and I found myself clapping and cheering with my own delight of where I sit and the life that I lead.

Things could be worse. Yes, they could be. In so many ways that I won’t even try to count or name the ones in my own hemisphere but I think about those that read my words from far away and I think of their journeys. One family lost a young son to cancer and I try to be deliberate with the joy I capture from my own three sons. Two families have children with brain tumors. Brain tumors. One family leaves in another week to finally pick up their young son from an orphanage in China; he has Down Syndrome and is lovely. One family painstakingly loves and searches for answers for their daughter with the rarest special needs in the world, yet they work just as hard to lobby for families like my own in North Carolina.

Things could be worse. Yes, they really could be and they will be. Hardship and joy ebb and flow in the dance of life and we are its’ unwilling participants. We struggle to hang on for the ride, duck under the largest waves, paddle furiously over other ones and every so often, we ride, gliding on the loveliness of nature and all it throws at us. We never surrender in defeat but tuck our heads, wipe the tears and go the distance in our quest of choosing joy.

Thank you for supporting me in my writing these last six months. For reading and immersing your heart into our journey. For offering needed advice, your own stories of hardship and kind words, and the shared laughter and tears, I have been overwhelmed that the great big world is not so big after all. Though life has not followed the plan I had charted carefully on my map, it has taken me to distant lands and been a course more amazing than I knew possible.

Things could be worse but I am doubtful, in this moment, if they could be much better.