I love to surf, but I am not a great surfer by any means. When I first started, I went often. But now, the chance I get to go is few and far in-between. By no means have my arms been in prime condition to keep up lately, but I still love to go surfing. When I was new to California with little to no friends, I often surfed solo because I wanted to learn for myself. I don't think there is anything wrong with going by yourself, but like anything else, having company is great inspiration to keep it up. And anyway, having someone by your side is always twice the fun. So, for that, you can imagine how excited I was to finally be able to surf with Bobby.
My one of my favorite memories with Bobby involves an evening surf at Doheny. It wasn't the first time we went surfing together, but that evening, the conditions were different than the local friendly waves I was used to at Blackies on summer mornings. Though things started out fine, I had a major wipe out. On my way back, I got hit by a few more big waves. Honestly, I was spooked. I couldn't recover. A consistent set continued to push me down, and with each wave I spent underwater, I doubted my ability to join the line up even more. Luckily, Bobby found me and stayed with me in the white wash for a bit. He calmed me down and together, we waited for the set to die out.
So, Bobby has a pretty sweet collection of surf boards, but that day we took my brother's old longboard and my pink and teal board. With my brother's old board being white, you can imagine who rode which board. But during this moment, I was really feeling scared, as I was struggling to hold onto my light girly board.
I wouldn't normally ask, but for some reason, I asked Bobby if we could switch boards. Maybe I knew he loved me enough to ride a pink board for a while, or maybe because I knew he could make even the dorkiest weirdest board look good. I just knew I could ask. Of course, without hesitation, he agreed. I took a deep breath and got on the big ol' long board and held tightly on the rails. Okay, here we go...
Bobby slowed his pace to stay by my side throughout each and every wave that came at us. His cool confidence assured what wavering amount I had. What's more, he made it look so easy and so fun to just paddle on, that I felt better. He kept telling me how everything was okay and I could do it. I believed him and I started to believe myself over the doubts. We made it through together, and in our victory, we laughed with good humor in our triumph. In this moment, I realized I was living the metaphor I would continue to understand about what exactly makes our relationship a strong one.
Some couples find strength in needing one another for different reasons than other couples. Whether it is realized or not, a feeling of necessity is imperative to drawing back together two people in a relationship. Sometimes it's for a healthy reason, sometimes it's not. I feel fortunate in my relationship with Bobby because we need each other... in a good way. We don't need to fight or find arguments to draw emotions from one another. It's nothing that he or I buy for the other. I find that I need Bobby here because he just inspires me to be a better person. When we work together as a team, whether it's our nights cooking together, exploring a new mountain to snowboard down, or even fixing a broken computer at home, we just grow with the experiences we share together. And after all we've accomplished, I trust him only more as my best friend, or even stronger--and he's a combination of all the things I love and continue to learn to love more.
I feel like there is so much I want to give back to Bobby for all the times he's been been so awesome to me and my family and my friends, I want--or I need--to return that love. And I know what keeps him going is the same feeling in return. I know that writing something like this personal isn't really cool, maybe it's cheesy and I'm not going to get a lot of views on this post. In any case, I've just wanted to put in words for a while just how awesome I think our relationship is--yes, finally! A happy, healthy relationship! Happy [anything] Day, my love! Here's to many more to spend together.
