Oh baby

I got my husband another surf board for Christmas, because, well, you can’t have too many when the stoke hits. It doesn’t matter that he had just bought a 9′ Robert August board a month ago, oh no. See, this one is a high performance 9′ board. The nose is slightly turned up, like a snob, and she has beautiful angles. You might just have to trust me on this.

I didn’t plan on buying the board. I planned on getting him a wetsuit, but when I got there and called him to ask what size and style he wanted, I also asked which board it was that he had been obsessing over for the last 30 days. He replied “Oh, no, don’t buy a board…………..but its a Robert August Saber”.

And yes, I bought it. And the wetsuit. And lots of wax.

On the way home I glanced in the rear view and thought “how do you hide a 9′ long surfboard from a surfer in his own house”. I mean, it is not like it would fit in our closet behind my clothes. It certainly would not go in the attic. There was no way to just slip it in underneath the other 4 boards. So I called Billy and chit chatted on the drive home. About 10 minutes into the conversation, I said casually:

“Hey, I was just sitting here thinking about something”
Billy: “Oh yeah, what are you thinking?”
Me: “I was asking myself how to hide a 9′ long log from my husband, and I was wondering if you have any suggestions”
Billy: “You did NOT buy that! No!”
Me: “Are you mad?”
Billy: “Are you serious?”
Me: “Oh yes. The nose is leaning up against my head right now.”
Billy “You should NOT have done that.”
Me: “Do you want me to take it back?”
Billy, very quickly: “NO! Don’t do that.”

When I got home, we unloaded it and he unwrapped a bar of wax and, with something like reverence, began waxing his virgin board.

Oh baby

It was hilarious to watch. I felt like I needed to fan myself. Whew.

Wax on

Why did I do this? Because he would not have done it for himself. It made me feel like laughing and clapping my hands when he saw it.

“But he already had a surf board”, you might say! “And the economy!!! Jody!! you are insane!” Well, you know what? Now he has a nose rider and I went with him to the beach and watched him ride it every day last week. I watched him wriggle into his wetsuit, walk down the beach with his Saber, attach his leash and paddle out into the line-up with all the young guys 1/2 his age….and he smoked ‘em. When he came in, his skin was salty and chilled, and as I kissed him I realized that you can bring yesterday back around. And it is better the second time.

That was worth every damn cent.