As you can see I've been very busy not blogging. Work coupled with shoulder pain has kept me from doing much, though we did take to dogs to the beach and had a great time there on Monday.
I finally had my doctor look at the mri's of my shoulder, and he said there's no evidence of a tear. It looks inflamed, and there's a small cyst but it looks like i just need to try so anti-inflamatories for now. I'm praying thats it, i need to get back out in the water.
In light of how busy I've been at work and working on another project to be announced soon, I've been neglecting (sorry) this blog a bit. Some of you may have read this post on my pre-fatherhood blog, but I thought it was worthy content for DDD. Enjoy!
My senior year in high school I had a job at Holiday Inn working in the banquet service. I'd be there from right after school until sometimes three to four in the morning, watching drunk people do the macarena at weddings, corporate Christmas parties etc. I remember when I first started I was excited at the prospect of free food (loved food, still do!) from the surprisingly good kitchen. I commented on it my first day, and I've never forgotten what my supervisor said. Apparently, when you've worked in food service for a while, you actually get to the point where just the smell will satisfy you. Of course you still have to eat, but the additional temptation to eat more than needed just goes away after a short time. I found this to be true, and even there I didn't last long at that job, that always stuck with me for some reason.
Being a new father, moving, and working a sales job in the current economy, time to get out in the water has been more than scarce for the last several months. I was on the road to work early one morning this last week and decided to take the scenic route up PCH from Newport to Huntington Beach, for the sole purpose of seeing if the smell of the ocean would help me through this long dry spell. I have to preface this with the fact that I didn't spend much time actually looking at the surf, not so much because I was driving, but that when I'm out of the water for a long period of time I just get frustrated seeing waves I can't ride.
Back to the experiment. I drove, windows down, several miles up, PCH, breathing in the fresh ocean air. For a moment I thought it would actually help, and really in a way it did. Part of the meditative benefit of surfing I believe is the the smell and sense off the ocean, and I got that. The only problem is that it still made me want more. Some surfers want more than just their local break, which has driven surf travel and exploration for decades. Part of being a "surfer" was the search for the next great wave, almost a constant limbo of being satisfied yet still yearning for more, knowing there was something more out there to experience. That's how I felt only in a sad, almost pathetic lesser degree. I am actually at the point where just being able to see the ocean, sense it and breathe in its aroma, makes me feel like I've reached that much more of a connection. I'm far from content with being out of the water for so long, but that's the thing about surfing, no other past-time (I don't' like to call it a sport) is so holistic in its experience. Maybe I'll write on that later.
Photo by Ryan Tatar
As you can see if you've checked this blog regularly, I haven't been doing much posting lately. Between work and family its been tough to get anything in edgewise. The downside of commissioned sales is that when business is slower, you put in more hours for less reward. At least the spending time with family part more time means more reward, I just wish I had more time there.
Luckily for me, the surf hasn't been much to get happy about anyways. The issue I run into is I'm one of those people who needs to surf regularly to keep my edge. I don't forget how to surf, but paddling is a whole other story! To keep a little bit of an edge I started doing yoga in the mornings a couple years ago. Doing it regularly makes a big difference when I do get out in the water. It doesn't help the cardio side at all, but as far as how fast my muscles wear out, and what they feel like afterwards it makes a world of difference.
Hopefully when things settle down a little bit I'll be able to get out in the water more. having a new baby shakes things up and I think they're just now really starting to settle back down to normal.
This is at Roblar Winery from our recent trip to the Santa Ynez Valley. I've never been to a winery before so it was a pretty fun experience. I took a ton of pictures, (I'd post them up but my photoshop doesn't support RAW files).
It would seem funny to me even if someone else said it, but ever since I saw the remake of "The Parent Trap", the one with Lindsay Lohan before she went weird, I've thought it would be great to work on a vineyard. You live on a beautiful setting, you spent a lot of time outdoors, and you're able to be a craftsman/artist in what you do every day. Seems like a good life to me. I'm sure there's drawbacks, and a lot more work than I understand also.
So now, I'm torn, when I'm able to go off the grid, to I start a small coffee plantation in Hawaii? Or do I go North and grow grapes......?
One thing I'm realizing about fatherhood, and desiring to raise your children with a love for the outdoors. The issue that we run into after the fact is not just raising them outside, but getting outside ourselves.
Between family and baby and mortgages and car payments, its really hard to get time to get out to the water or up to the mountains. What we once took for granted now feels like to slipping away. I got a comment from a new father that he had an 18 week-old baby boy and was totally stoked, but hadn't been in the water in weeks and was about to go insane! I know exactly how you feel. Surfing is different than many other outdoor activities in that its more of a spiritual and emotional pursuit than other sports for most participants so being high and dry for long periods of time (days for some people, weeks for others) really has a negative effect on our psyche.
On the flip side. We're dads now. Being a dad is the second most important job I'll ever have on this earth, #1 being a husband. Family comes first in everything. I've read in my any surf magazines, articles, etc speaking on the effect and power of surfing in someones life, and read something along the lines of "marriages have failed because of the powerful pull of the ocean..." or some such nonsense. When I sit back and look at the big picture, one day a week in the water when the waves aren't even good, with a happy, close, and loving family is a lot more important than catching it every time the swell comes up.
Now that contentment with my new lot is setting in, my biggest concern really is what I'm going to be able to do when my son is old enough to join me. Will I even be in good enough paddling shape to show him how to duck dive a 10ft wave? Will he be able to look up to me and see something he wants to be athletically? I was watching On Surfari a few episodes back and Shayne (the father) was surfing a longboard while holding Banyan, his son. Am I going to be confident enough in my abilities to do that with my boy? I was a while ago, not so much now.
When I sit back and look at the big picture, its easy to know what the right decision and attitude is for the moment, but there's always that nagging in the back of your head when you look at the surf report and know its going to be good, yet know you're not going to be in the water for it. I'm sure its the same for many other activities as well. When its a lifestyle, not a hobby, its difficult to let it go at all, but that's what fatherhood brings you, a dramatic shift in priorities, that are more than worth any sacrifice.
Being a car salesman (VW's for those who are wondering) can be relatively uninspiring. I try to have as much fun with it as posssible, and do my best to not act like a "salesman". Every now and then you get a customer that has the ability and the desire to give you something as thanks for not making them suffer through another stereotypical cheesy car salesman.
Now that we have a baby, this is great!
Now I'm gonna have to start running
