Seven days later I had the newly acquired abilities to catch my own waves without being pushed into them, to get up most of the time and to turn the foam board, all the time proudly displaying my scabbed knees, a split lip from a rebounding board, and some pretty straw like sea water, sun damaged hair. And I’d never been happier. A surfer girl was born- a few decades late, but it’s never too late to live a dream!
Happily, even for us “kooks”* the waters are so very different. I am warmly greeted at the beach and cheered on in the lineup anywhere I surf. Also, I am rarely alone in my gender in the water, although I am often the only female who is 57 years old out there. But, in my travels to other breaks hosting surf schools, there are more and more “Grannies” gearing up and getting wet.
Besides fulfilling my childhood Gidget dreams surfing has amazing benefits.
My final bonus from becoming a Grandma Gidget? I met my husband on a surfing singles site. I was just looking for more “Silver Surfers”, men or women, to go on trips with as I still lived in Northern Nevada. He wrote to me, wondering how surfing was working out for me in the High Sierras. One year later after 4 cross country trips and ten days together in Costa Rica, I moved to join him in South Florida. So I am finally surfing alongside my Big Kahuna. Moondoggie be damned! The Kahuna is a way better surfer than that kid. As of this writing we have filed our paperwork to live as residents in surf blessed Costa Rica…but that’s another story.
Definitions courtesy of Surfline.com
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Love it!!!
This was super awesome, Karen! I wish I was as brave as you and could do something like this!
This makes me smile from ear to ear. Go Grandma Gidget!!!
Awesome article!