The majority of my life has been spent on the cautious side. I'm not much of a daredevil, and I don't actively seek out situations that are stressful, dangerous, or potentially uncomfortable in any way. To be less polite, I am usually a bit of a wuss. There is one shining moment in my history that goes completely against all of this, however, and so without further introduction or explanation, here is the story of the most badass thing I've ever done.
The year of 2015 was full of milestones for all the members of my family; I turned 18, my sister turned 21, both of my parents turned 50, and they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. We decided we would take a big family vacation to celebrate all of these occasions simultaneously, and so in February of 2015 we went to Hawaii. We each had a few things we were really looking forward to doing, and for me, one of those things was surfing. It was an opportunity that probably wouldn't come up again for a long time, and I was excited to give it a try.
As we prepared to leave for the trip, I realized I was bringing along an extra passenger; Mother Nature. I definitely was not pleased to have her with me on a trip that would include a lot of swimming, but she came anyway. She was a passive traveler, and didn't get in the way of our plans until the day before my surfing lesson. My mother and I passed a sign on a beach that warned swimmers to stay out of the water if they were in the same condition as I was because sharks live in the waters of Hawaii. It certainly wasn't the most comforting thing to read, and my mother and I talked about whether I wanted to continue with the lesson or not. I decided I would, simply because it was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to surf.
The next day, I donned my swimsuit and went to my lesson, with Mother Nature along for the ride. My class consisted of just myself and a man from France, and neither of us had ever been surfing before. One thing I learned very quickly is that surfing is mostly paddling with your arms to get in position to catch a wave. I have very little arm strength, so this particular activity exhausted me much faster than it did the French student. After a few successful runs, I took a break and floated by a buoy while the French student did a few more runs. While I was floating there, I overheard a conversation between two men. One of them exclaimed, "Dude, I think I saw a tiger shark out there!", and I suddenly remembered that Mother Nature was surfing with me. Not only that, but I had also cut my shin after a fall a few minutes ago. Needless to say, the scent of blood was probably a bit stronger around me than most of the other people in the area.
Don't worry, though, folks. I was not attacked by a shark, even though I stuck out the rest of the lesson, a good 20 to 30 minutes after hearing there may be a shark in the area. The rest of the vacation went well, and Mother Nature didn't put me in potential harm after that day. Not only do I get to say that I have surfed in Hawaii, I can proudly say I surfed in shark-inhabited waters while also surfing the crimson wave and lived to tell the tale.
