#surfthewave

I’m no doll with pretty blue eyes and shiny straight blonde hair. I’m just a girl, one that seeks adventure and enjoys the simple things. With my facial differences, short joint-less fingers and club-like feet, I never knew when the adventure of my life would begin and the stares from others would end. I have Apert Syndrome. When I was born I had no physical fingers or toes and had noticeable facial differences. The doctors and my parents thought I would be limited by what I can do, but I proved them wrong. I prove lots of people wrong. 

People have always looked at me with weary eyes and low expectations. Thinking, that I would not be capable of doing “normal” activities due to my limitations. However, when the time is right, and the air is as crisp as it can be, time changes people, it makes them older and wiser. Without my passion, I would not know who I would be. Would I still be me? Would I be searching for something to part me away from the rest of the crowd? Who would I be? It was not till one hot and windy day in the summer of 2013 that I figured out the change in me, the change in my future. 

At the age of 15, with the summer air and warmth dwindling to an end in Surf City, NC, I lay back in my red beach chair, under our big rainbow-colored beach umbrella, with Bob Marley blasting in the background from my blue and black JBL speaker. I crowd watch as people walk by in their bathing suits with their sunglasses on their faces walking like supermodels. My mom is sitting next to me, she says, “Sara, look,” I turn my head to the right to see a skinny, tan, blonde haired, guy coming towards me with a surfboard in his hand and big black sunglasses on his face. At that moment, my heart stops, I am so nervous. A million questions start running through my head. Am I actually going to surf, what if I say something dumb, what if my bathing suit top comes flying off, what if I fart, but the most important question is, will I actually be able to surf? My feet dig deeper into the sand as he comes closer. Finally, he is standing five feet away from me. He puts down the board and takes out a water gun and starts squirting me. Instantly, my nerves wash away. He introduces himself as Cody, the owner of Surf City Surf School. After the introduction, we start practicing pop-ups on the board, I get the hang of it after a few short minutes. We go over safety and water safety and then he picks up the board and we head for the water. My parents follow, like paparazzi with their cameras in their hands. After about twenty minutes and a couple of bruises to the arms and legs, I do it, I pop-up correctly, and I surf. Everyone is screaming, laughing, and crying with excitement and joy, even my dad. Everyone is so happy, I grab my board and rush back out into the ocean to do it again. I was finally a surfer. 

Fast forward about a year, I’m a surf nut. Any chance I get I am either out in the water practicing, or on the web searching for different videos and articles about surfing, I could not get my mind off it. Finally, at the beginning of the next summer, we go back down to Surf City, NC and I am able to surf once again. We rent a board from Cody and I instantly head for the beach where I had begun my “surfing bug” once before. 

The wind whips my hair around in a million different directions as the sun blinds my eyes. The noises of kids screaming, music blasting, and waves crashing are familiar sounds. I grab my board and walk across the hot sand as it burns my feet. I start to paddle out to the distant horizon, about 100 feet or so, sitting, waiting, and wishing for the perfect gem. There are others out here, bobbing up and down on their board like a cork. Their locals, with their caramel skin tone, burnt, dry lips, and sun-kissed ocean blonde hair, they scream out my name and wave hello. One of the guys breaks from the pack, starts to paddle, stands up in his blue bathing suit with white stripes just to be sucked into the wave, not making it the “perfect” wave of the session. Then another one breaks away, catches a wave, screams, yells at the top of his lungs, and throws up a shaka in excitement. The waves are firing, it’s a perfect set. 

The waves are very powerful, getting bigger and bigger as they come closer to the shore. I paddle towards shore with hesitation and fear, wanting to go in and go home. My parents are screaming, saying to take the next wave. I look behind me, I see a 4-5ft wave coming in my direction, I paddle hard in fear that I might get sucked in, I kick my feet, and paddle, paddle, paddle for my life. It slowly lifts me up, I’m in the perfect spot on the wave where gravity can do its magic. It finally crashes, taking me with it, everything is in slow motion, I slowly get in my stance, my club like feet skim the board, my ankles lock, but I push through it, finally, I stand up on my waxy blue and white surfboard, riding the wave, the perfect wave of the set. Water droplets drip from my salty hair landing and splashing little droplets on my feet. I look down at the crystal blue ocean and see the reflection of the sun smiling down upon me. I put my hand down to the water and skim the top, I look back at the water splashing upon itself, I feel like a pro being filmed in a cheesy Bruce Brown movie. I ride the wave all the way to the shore. I jump off my board, landing hard onto the soft sand, I look out into the ocean, looking back to what I had just accomplished and the other surfers clapping and cheering. I look down the beach, where I see my parents running. My mom, in her aviator Ray-Ban sunglasses with her white shorts and a black tank top and her hair pushed back, held with a hair clip. My dad, in his groovy Keen water shoes, white sunscreen blotched all over his skin, wearing his O’Neil blue swim trunks. They are running down the beach, still in slow motion. I look up to the glistening sky once more, thanking my angels for giving me this gift of life. I then hug my mom, my dad, and high five locals who are standing in ankle deep water, consulting with each other if they should surf. I surfed the perfect wave of the summer, if I can do that, I can do anything.

Me at the age of 15 with my surf instructor Cody, owner of Surf City Surf School, right after I caught that knarly wave

Surf City, NC 2017