Have you ever been in the ocean and said I am gonna die? When I was in my 20′s I almost did with some horrible rip tides and a long day of beach volleyball. I was tired and swam a little too far out and kept getting pounded by waves and pulled back out…I just couldn’t get back. A friend helped me out and here I am a daddy of two….So, enough of that!!
My family had a little beach adventure this week. I had to work late on Sunday but as soon as I got off work we jumped in the car and took a nine hour drive to Myrtle Beach….that place was Amazing!!! Now, Gabriel my oldest has been in the ocean as a toddler but Isabella has never entered the water before…..Oh, what an adventure it was!! First day…we enter the water and I have a kid holding on to each arm because let’s face it…the ocean is a little intimidating. The water is a little cold at first but I know as soon as the first wave hits us it’s not going to matter because we will be drenched!!! I didn’t think about the salt….Bella got the first mouthful and you would have thought she had something stuck in her throat….she gagged and spit something awful…Gabriel was laughing until he turned around and got a face full himself!!! Ha Ha Ha Laugh now!!! I start laughing at both of them until I step off in a hole and fall down in the water!! Hey, I’m from Tennessee Lakes, Rivers, creeks, and ponds don’t act this way! We still had a few hours of fun when we got those issues out of the way.
Well, we went in and took a little break to eat lunch and it was a good thing too….a little afternoon storm came through and ran everyone off the beach. It didn’t last too long but it really made the waves look cool and we couldn’t wait to get out there. So, we get our suits back on and headed on down to the water and I quickly notice that this is a little bit more rough than earlier…it kind of looks like the water did 20 years ago when I almost died….what could go wrong….so we jump in and quickly find out that it was too rough especially since Bella said…I don’t want to go in….so Gabe and I try to get going but the waves are pounding right at the shore and the water has risen quite a bit….No sooner than we realize this does a huge wave hit us…Gabe gets knocked forward now I still have his hand….the undertow starts pulling him back into the ocean….another wave hits us and let me just tell you….my son doesn’t have wings because I have checked before….BUT….this boy flew over my head with his hand still in mine….meanwhile my pants get ripped from my waste and down around my ankles…..there I am 300 pounds of Tennessee white butt!! I couldn’t save my pants but I never let go of Gabe..We decide that we had enough so we walk up onto the shore…or get thrown out of the ocean…either way we are out. Thank God!!
As we walk up to where the girls are hanging out…my dear wife Kas states that my daughter said that I told her that she could not get in the water….WHAT?!….I said Kas, Did you not just see what happened out there? She said, I saw you guys get knocked down but you need to take her out there….I said…WE ALMOST DIED!!! She still insisted, so being the obedient husband that I am…I took my eight year old daughter by the hand and headed to the water. When we got there…she bailed again….she wasn’t having any part of it! I walked into the water up to about my knees…safe enough right…turned my back to the ocean and called for my daughter to come to me…she would not…so I put my arms out to my sides to motion to my wife that I tried and she would not come in…..did I mention that my back was to the ocean? I got hit with another monster wave that flipped me over, took my pants again, and then had me on my knees while it pulled all of the sand and shells underneath my planted knees like sandpaper and gravel……RUG BURN!!!!
I gathered myself and exited the Ocean for the day!!
