After hearing an overwhelming number of horror stories about surfing, I had resigned myself to the simple fact that I would be very bad at surfing.

Well guess what?! I’m not!!

For a beginner.

Luckily the waves were quite controlled and our instructors were quite good. To my sincere shock (with a big soft top surfboard) I stood up for nearly every wave and was able to balance on the board pretty well (nobody is more surprised about this than me).

Later in the day, I go to the beach with a Swedish girl from my hostel, we stand in the waves which drag us into the ocean and then knock us over like bowling pins. We laugh maniacally.

I’ve been reading Patti Smith’s M Train which so poetic and carefully written. It makes me immensely happy to see an artist that I love have this interesting and varied career that spans throughout her life. She writes about travelling (she once almost made it to Brazil with visa pictures and all). She writes about television shows that absorb her, being creative and creating. All things that make me love her more. I love the way she talks about her late husband, it’s sweet but not saccharine. It melts you a little to know that two people cared for each other in such a meaningful way. She writes about him in such a fond and tender way, not wilting because he has passed, but holding him close in everything she creates. She is my hero.

Because I love Emmylou Harris and this song reminds me of Patti and Fred Smith. This is the song of the day:

The Travelling Kind – Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

I bring you this smug as fuck grin from a brand new surfer. ✌️😎🌞