To-Do List #54 Learn how to surf

That's right. I, the girl who hated swimming in the ocean, wanted to learn how to surf. Actually, it was a big goal of mine moving out to Hawai'i. I wanted to do a few things, jump off a waterfall, swim with turtles, learn to surf - they were all on the list. And I did them all. Some, a little earlier than others!

My new-found love of swimming in the ocean actually came one week before moving to Hawai'i. My best friend Dale, another friend Ken, my sister and I went to Atlantic Beach, NC for a day. Melissa and Ken stayed on the sand while Dale and I played in the ocean, in our clothes. We stayed in the water long after dark, just enjoying the beauty, the peace, and just being together. I fell in love with the healing power of the ocean at that moment.

So, back to surfing... On my last week in my beloved Hawai'i, my sister, Melissa came out to stay in Maui for the week. The week was great, she was able to meet my friends, able to see the places that I went every week, able to fall in love with the land. It's impossible not to. We did a lot of great things that week, snorkling at the coral gardens, clubbing with friends, the horrible road to Hana, sunrise at Haleakala...

But a great highlight was checking a big check off my to-do list. Melissa and I took lessons from the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy - which was really great! Our first wave and we both were up - with a little help and a big push from our instructor Luis! We were both addicted! We rented boards for the next day... So there we were, on our own... And I think, in the course of several hours we maybe got up 3 times between us. Yeah. So it's a little bit harder without the big push! But, I wanted to keep getting on the board, keep trying to stand up, keep paddling, I fell in love with it. But, two days later, I moved home with no ocean in sight.

But, believe me, the next time I am near the waves, I am going to give it another shot!