Want to Feel Young Again?

There is nothing that I do that makes me feel more alive, younger, and just GREAT, than boogie boarding. When I moved to the San Diego area six years ago, my friend Christa invited me to join a group of a few women, all 60+, that went boogie boarding. I said Yes.

In my youth I lived just a few miles from Santa Monica beach and spent most of my waking hours during the summer at the beach, either playing volleyball or body surfing. I don't recall boogie boards even having been invented yet. We had rafts, and that was about it. It was long board surfing (which I was never very good at) or body surfing.

So at age 60 I discovered boogie boarding, which is so easy a small child can do it, in fact I was in the water with some little kids today and we all had a ball. Our group of 13 women braved 65 degree water, some in wetsuits (like me), some not (Fran and Christa). The waves were big and little bit choppy, but we were in the water for 45 minutes or more.

How can I describe what it feels like to catch a wave? Do you remember the feeling of riding in a convertible or motorcycle when you were young? Or the feeling of a great ski run? It's sort of like you can do anything! The way teenagers feel, like they're invincible. That's how it feels to me each and every time I go boogie boarding, and that's why I continue to go. Of course the comraderie with the women is amazing, but it's really that "I can do anything" feeling that brings me back again and again.