Jumping Waves

Just look at that happiness. *sigh*

"This is so cool mom!" That wave knocked me out!"

"Baby, its called a WIPE OUT"

"WIPE OUT!!"

The highlight for the kids this past weekend was jumping waves. They haven't experienced it yet because on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there are NO waves. Just brown water.

Though they found it to be the coolest thing ever, it extremely stressed me out. The red flag was already up because of the rip current, and I could just imagine their little bodies being sucked out…

At the time I took the above photos, I was out in the water with Mark. He was constantly begging me to go into the water, and to be honest I just didn't want to be out there, I was content in my chair with a book…

But I went out with him, and he was so happy. He actually had me laughing, and once I started laughing I realized that THIS was exactly what I loved about summers at the beach. The waves.

Growing up I am lucky to say we were beach bums. All daylight hours were at the beach. My mom sat in her chair, with a book, and I don't think she really cared about us getting sucked away into a rip current…

My brother and I were the annoying little boogie boarders, ALL the way out with Surfers. The BIGGER the better. I had no fear. I wanted to belong out there with the surfers. But no surfboard, no money, so I cruised around on my foam boogie board.

Once my stomach and chest would be covered in board rash, we turned to body surfing. Again the waves were magical. 

Yeah there were plenty of times that I thought I was going to nearly drown. Or times that I didn't catch the wave right, and fell over the top of it only to be plummeted.

But … I can still taste the waves. The smell. The sunburn. Board burn. The hunger after being out in the water all day.

All this, as I watched my own son, with no fear, let the waves beat the crap out of him.