Washing Away the Pain of 96 Days of Injury

The days leading up to March 5th, 2012 have been filled with an overwhelming sense of both dread and joyful anticipation. I honestly did not know which of the two I would be feeling at the end of the day. Lucky for me, it was the latter. I was beyond happy at my current status. And no, I'm not talking about my Facebook status. I'm talking about being able to surf again.

It had been exactly 96 days since I had surfed. December 1st, 2011.

And I do not expect all of you to remember, or know, but on 12/1/11 I hurt my knee pretty bad. I had torn my quad tendon, tore my medial meniscus, and bruised bones, all in my right knee. And yes, I did it while surfing. The pain that day was something I had never before experienced in my lifetime. And it is something I never ever want to go through again. For the last 3 months I had been on a regimented PT program while contemplating surgery ever since.

I stayed true to the program and worked out, and my knee got stronger.

Although my knee is not 100%, it is better. It still feels weird. It clicks. But I'm not in pain. And, I was able to convince the Ortho Doc that surgery was not needed. And more importantly, I was able to get the green light and go surfing again.

Now I have no idea how many of you out there reading this have had similar injuries, my guess is quite a few. Lord knows I've met many of you the last 3 months who have shared similar horror stories about knee injuries. And in each one, I felt your pain (sometimes literally). I have a whole new appreciation for the NFL player laying on the field, writhing in pain, grabbing his knee. Or the Hockey player, skating off the ice while favoring that one knee. That hurts.

Knee injuries suck. Hell, any kind of injury stinks. But this was all new to me.

I've never been out of the water this long. Ever...well that's not true, there was that year I spent in Southeast Asia fighting in that war while serving in the Marine Corps. But I never lost my ability to walk or surf. Thank God. So I guess I've been pretty damn lucky considering the potential for my getting hurt over the years. And let's face it, I'm talking about quite a few years here. Sheesh am I ever.

I guess I took surfing for granted. I never thought about never being able to surf for any long period of time. It just never crossed my mind. Yet there I was. For 96 days I watched swell after swell come and go. Some of those swells are the kind I live for. The perfect head high and offshore and just barreling. I love those.

But I could only watch. And document. And honestly? I love taking photos and video of surfing (hello). I mean it's what I do. But I'm also a surfer. In fact, I was a surfer before I became a photographer. So yea, it was bittersweet these last 96 days. I had joked with Ed O'Connell about that day...96 days. You see Ed and I are old enough to remember the band Question Mark and the Mysterians. They had a hit song called..."96 Tears". Not really sure what the premise was behind that title, but the chorus was pretty clear..."I'm gonna Cry cry cry cry 96 tears!" It was sung over a cheesy organ riff. Google it, I'm sure you can find it.

So on Monday, March 5th, 2012 I had that song in my head. It was haunting.

The days before the swell was thumping. I mean it was solid head high and overhead. Not exactly what I wanted to surf the first time to test my knee. Look I may not be the brightest bulb in the circuit but my mother did not raise a complete dummy. No sir, I waited for the right conditions. And that was this past Monday. And as it turns out, it was the exact spot I had surfed on December 1st 2011 when I got hurt. Seemed fitting enough.

I asked my son Max if he wanted to tag along and document my return to mother ocean. He was after all without a vehicle now, and he had surfed the three days leading up to this day and I had shot a ton of pics of him. Again, it seemed only fitting that he would return the favor. He graciously accepted the offer at hand.

So I grabbed BIG BLACK out of the rack and scrambled to find my wetsuit.

That proved to be a more daunting task. I could not find any boots, and or gloves that matched. Nor could I find a decent hood. This is the problem of having Max at home and being close enough in size that he wears all of my wetsuits. After getting a mismatched array of rubber, we hit it for 10th Street. I was wearing a neoprene knee brace and it felt really cumbersome. Hell, it was a drag.

Pulling up to the Wall we saw a decent set unload off the sandbar. It was chest high and hollow. Perfect for me. I smiled and waxed up before making that walk down the stairs. There was only one other guy out. A SUP. Yes, I thought about the possibility of having the SUP drop in on me or taking all the waves. But that was just unnecessary paranoia on my part. We never got close to each other. In fact, if anything, we ended up sharing waves together, though we were never close enough to share pleasantries.

I think we waved and nodded at each other. After all I was stoked.

I'm not going to bore you anymore with details of all my rides. I will however say that my first wave was probably my best wave. I caught it with ease, and did a smooth bottom turn and slid into the pocket where I made a few slight adjustments and then smoothly kicked out . It was as if, I had never left. And my last wave was a bona fide barrel. I mean come on. Getting barreled after 96 days? My brothers and sisters I almost cried. And I really almost cried when I looked up after getting that wave and could not see Max on the beach.

"Damn, he missed that wave!" I thought to myself.

When he appeared from a parked vehicle I motioned to him that he missed my best wave. He motioned back that he did not. But I could not see how that was possible. He was after all talking with friends who were getting ready to go out, But again, to save time and boredom, here's the photo Max shot [Editor's note: The picture is the featured photo attached to this blog].

He did get it...I was humbled by it all. I mean all of it. The fact that I was able to surf again. The fact that my son was able to get this photo, and just the absolute, simple joy of being back in the ocean again...I was moved to tears later when seeing this photo. I'm a softy. What's that saying of mine? Oh yea...

"Surfing Heals ALL Wounds..."and boy does it ever.




Now for some of my Weekly Global Observances:

Say what? Peyton Manning is no longer a Colt? Oh that ain't right people. And this kid Andrew Luck is gonna fill those shoes? I don't think so. Not for at least two or three more years maybe. Look, I'm a Pats fan. But I'm also an NFL fan, I want to see a good solid league. Manning out there looking for a job? That's wrong. And potentially playing for the JETS or the Dolphins? That should concern all Pats fans. He was just in Denver two days ago. Denver? What about Timmy? That boy must be on his knees praying up a storm.

Be interesting to see what develops out of this . Very interesting.

So Super Tuesday came and went and we still do not know who the GOP nominee is...look it's mathematically impossible for anyone to beat Romney at this point. So what are those three guys doing wasting money? If I was throwing money at Santorum, Newt, or Ron Paul I'd have to question my own sanity. You guys are wasting money and time. Hello?

Meanwhile Syria is exploding with daily violence. Iran is on course for building a Nuclear bomb while Israel is getting jumpy at that prospect. Gas prices are through the roof and the poor folks who were hit by those deadly Tornados last week are still without homes, power and transportation. Maybe the Mayans are right.

Maybe it does all end on December 12, 2012...12-12-12...whatever.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GET OUT and VOTE on March 13th! Two issue involving Surfing and Skateboarding here on the seacoast. First is the Rye NH Voters. PLEASE VOTE NO on Article 18 and 19. They are trying to have RESIDENT ONLY parking at Straws and other breaks . PLEASE VOTE NO on 18 & 19! That's ALL RYE, NH Voters.
Hampton, NH Voters please Vote YES on the Skateboard Park Article 41!