First of all, to quench curiosity of the last post, I'll tell you of how Kezia and I "took the plunge" this week. I mentioned we have some videographers creating a promo video for our stand up paddle school. They came out this last Wednesday to videotape Nate and I stand up paddle surfing. That got me really nervous I’m not that good of a stand up paddle surfer. I usually surf my longboard, and only take out a stand up board on smaller days. Well, when we got to the beach that morning, the waves were even bigger than we had expected!!
Long story short, I paddled out with my heart in my throat. I knew I had to just go for it, since we had really limited time. I did, and I was really happy with the waves that I got. Nate went after me. Since he discovered stand up paddling, he hasn't returned to longboarding, so he is really good. Funny thing is, Nate said I surfed better waves than him (That's because the videographers asked him to surf a certain direction, which kind of threw off his game) I said, "You know why? Because I prayed harder than you before I went out!" hee hee!
Well, Kezia deserves accolades as well for her stint! She began surf lessons the beginning of this month. To prepare her, Nate took her out surfing tandem with her a few days prior. She came home singing “I love surfing” and said it was her favorite sport.
Come Wednesday, we found ourselves at the surf lesson. It was Kezia and two adults! (A cancelled tsunami warning scared off all the kids) The instructor spoke quickly and directly to the adults. I was afraid Kezia wasn’t understanding it all, or that she was getting intimidated from all the talk of reef and waves and falling off the board. I asked her and she said she understood it all.
The instructor said they all have to first do a swim test – swimming out to a lifeguard and swimming back to the shore….without a life jacket. Kezia has been so fearful of the water that she has always gone in with a life jacket. I thought this would be the clincher for her. This is when I saw a side of Kezia I had never seen before. It was one of those “YES!!!” moments of parenthood when you realize just how cool these spirits are in your home.
I asked her if she still wanted to do the test and she said yes. When her turn came she tried crossing the whitewater shorebreak, but was so fearful. However, she didn’t give up. She kept trying. She finally came back. But she said she wanted to try again. Again she went back to the shore where a lifeguard was waiting to swim next to her. This time she made it past the shorebreak and actually tried swimming…until she lunged for the lifeguard and returned back to shore. This time she said the reef was hitting her feet. But she said she wanted to try again a third time. Wow! She faced her fear 3 times on her own will!! When she still didn’t make it out, she was really disappointed. I was ecstatic and said we’re going out for ice cream! Kezia said she didn’t deserve it. Well, the instructors said she could come next time and try again if we practice.
So the next week we practiced as much as we could on our own. She was so silly, because although she wanted to practice, her fear would take over and she’d scream and yell, “TAKE ME IN, NOW!!” and climb all over our heads when the whitewater came her way. It looked like a case of child abuse. But the next day she’d be up for trying again.
The next Wednesday she tried the swim test again. Again she turned around, fearful of the shorebreak. She said she was done and didn’t want to do it again. But the instructor said he’d swim by her, and I said we’d buy her a toy if she tried, and that was enough for her. Here it is (PS -- for those unfamiliar with youtube, you don't want to click on the video suggestions after the video ;)(PPS- whoever spots the turtle wins!):
Isn’t she AWESOME!?!? She said she could have swum the way back to shore, but the instructor brought her in anyway. Well, because she didn’t complete the test, we figured she couldn’t be in the class. So we played in the shorebreak. She said, “Let’s go to the whitewater!!!” And I said, “But Kezia, the whitewater is scary, remember?” And she said, “No it’s not, it’s fun!”
And then an instructor came up to Kezia and asked her if she wanted to go surf a wave. And she did!!!!
I was a proud mom calling up Daddy and Grandma and telling everyone I knew how brave my daughter proved to be. The head instructor said she should come back next year. But another instructor said to come back again because she swam well on her swim test. Before this next class, she and I practiced falling off a board and swimming back to it. She said on the way t o the surf lesson, "I don't care if there are big waves or small waves because now I know what to do if I fall off the board." Kezia got many chances to surf. Looks like she’s in the class for good now.
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