Amanda and I started off today like we do most Sundays by getting up and heading out to Port City Community Church. Amanda was wearing a bright yellow dress, and on the way to church I called her “sunshine”, which she said I couldn’t call her because sometimes she (along with billions of people worldwide) says “Good morning, sunshine.” So I called her “sunflower” and said something about how sunflowers point towards the sun. Like the goof she is, we went down Murrayville Road and I think part of College with her pointing at the sun.
Nick Warkentien mentioned yesterday that Missy and Raf would be singing Love Song, which is one of my favorite songs, and I think the two of them are probably the best combination to sing it. We talked to Nick afterwards. He and Amy were both supposed to volunteer today, but Amy was sick and was sent home. I talked to Wayne Harris about the state of our small group and I was impressed that he was on top of it and knew what all was going on. I know he gets the weekly reports, but he’s got to get hundreds of them, and the fact that he can remember details of one particular group is pretty impressive in my book.
We talked to Kyle and Lorin van Zandt for a couple minutes too. They were working with the host team and Kyle was going to go meet Rob at the beach. We talked about grabbing some breakfast with them maybe next Sunday.
After church we hung out around the house for a bit. I was tired and dozed some, but I wasn’t able to really get any decent nap because Harvey kept jumping on the couch or messing with whatever limb of mine was hanging off the couch to try to get me to pet him. Bruce stayed snuggled up with me, on my chest or under an arm.
Eventually I got motivated enough to get up and put on my bathing suit so we headed on out to Wrightsville Beach and met up with Lars and Kaitlyn Boscaljon, who had been there for a while. Amanda and I actually hung out at the Frazelle house, mostly talking to Barry since Anna was helping Kirsten with homework, until Michael showed up. He and I grabbed surfboards and went out.
Speaking of surfboards, it looks like mine’s going to be called BB. Amanda called it that and said it stood for Boardinary Blue. Works for me- boardinary by itself, I’d decided, was a little long.
Michael, Lars and I paddled out, having a much easier time today then yesterday. The waves weren’t breaking well though, so mostly the three of us just drifted a bit. Michael caught a good one, and eventually I took two or three to get to the shore.
When I got back, Jeaneal, a girl Lars and Kaitlyn and Theo all know and whom I met about a month ago, was out there with her new roommate. I forgot her name, but she’s from Ohio. Amanda and Jeaneal, it turns out, know a lot of people in common because she’s from Jacksonville, which is right next to Richlands, where Amanda is from. Nick and Amy and Alysse showed up as well after a bit. Nick and Alysse both wanted to give the surf a try (Alysse had also tried yesterday) so Nick went and got Old Betty and I let Alysse use BB (she’s the second person ever to ride it- congrats to her!) and I used a board Jeaneal let me use- a little 5’8″ deal. It was the shortest board I’d ever written, but it was a lot easier to get out on.
Nick made it out this time. We were talking at one point when I noticed a wave building behind him. He was facing me, so I told him to paddle. He asked what I said and I said, “Paddle. Hard.” He started to get the wave, but I think it broke kind of hard so he didn’t catch it. There was one that I was paddling on shortly after that and when I looked down over the edge of it, past all the white, I saw Nick’s little head, seemingly forever below me, looking up at me. I didn’t catch it- the wave didn’t push me enough.
After a bit it was just me and Michael. We kept getting sucked down towards the pier and having to paddle back down the shore, not to mention that it was getting more crowded. I caught a pretty good wave about halfway in then while I was trying to go back out I had a set slam on me all back-to-back. I had trouble getting back up for air after two consecutive waves crashed over my head, so I rode some whitewater in.
You know what, I got something mixed up there, because I didn’t actually catch anything on that 5’8″ board. Maybe I went out with that one first. I ended up going out three times- twice with BB and once with that other board. I was out surfing so much today that it’s all kind of running together.
Anyway, our crowd had gotten a little bigger with Missy and Eric and Theo and a couple of his friends from California out there. They all went out and after a little rest Michael and I went back out again. Barry was out there this time too. I didn’t stay out too long as it was getting on in the day and I, having been out there a lot. Once I got back from that one though Amanda and I plus Michael and the extended Warkentiens were all ready to go too. Lars and Kaitlyn had left after the first session.
Amanda and I came home and I tried to watch an episode of Deadwood, but Amanda made a comment just about every time Swearenden dropped an f-bomb or anything similar, which made the show just about unwatchable, so I switched it off and we just watched TV.
Zach Dotsey