Personal Narrative: The Ride Of A Lifetime

The Ride of a Lifetime We have all had nightmares. They could be simple things such as seeing a clown or getting swarmed by spiders, but there are the ones that truly scare you, like drowning to death. For me, my childhood nightmare of drowning to death showed up at my front door last summer. It was terrifying, but through my experiences I learned that pain is temporary, memories are forever, and that you need to understand and respect Mother Nature to the fullest before you do anything involving nature. Growing up in Virginia, I learned at a young age to not fear the ocean or water. I lived my entire life on the coast of the Chesapeake Bay so I practically lived in the water on a day to day basis. By the age of eight, I was able to drive a boat and could navigate through the plentiful coves and rivers. By the age of nine, I was able to wake board and drive a jet ski. When I turned 12, I could take apart a boat engine, clean it, and put it back together without …show more content…
It gave me a new hobby and skill, it was also an amazing way to relieve stress or just have fun. Like all things, however you have to master a skill before you are good at it. I learned slowly like most. Paddling with my hands and feet just coasting through the river in hopes that a boat may make a wave or two for me to practice on. At the beach is was a much different story. Day after day, my brother and I would hit the beach at sunrise and not come in until it was pitch black outside. At first I hated it, I was not patient and I could not hone my skills enough to stand up on the board. After practicing for what felt like months I finally caught my first wave and rode it all the way into the shore line. Now I know this seems like just another superhero training montage from the movies, but I trained like this to get to where I am today. Now whenever I’m bored I can just grab my surfboard and head on down to my favorite surfing spot in North