WWYD

Today was Brenda’s 24th birthday. After a morning kiss and a “happy birthday” we decided that it was a perfect day to go to the beach. Dave called and said that he was going to Manhattan beach, but because my truck was parked in Venice (after some drinks yesterday evening we left it there and took a cab home) and we could ride our beach cruisers down to the truck we decided that Venice beach was the best option. We were about to leave the house but decided that Anna our dog needed a walk and that the sun was a bit too hot at the time, so we waited until about 2pm to leave. Before we left I took a few minutes to pump up the beach cruisers and pack beach bags. We had lunch at Chipotle and and then rode down through Marina Del Rey towads Venice, ending up near the Venice pier. After deciding to ride down the bike path north, we found a nice place on the sand next to three young girls and two cheesy guys who were doing everything they could to pick them up. Pretty par for the course. 

The waves were thick, heavy and huge, around 8 foot, and there were a ton of people in the shallows enjoying huge surges of water that followed each wave. Surfers farther out were catching the big tubes, while a few boogie boarders with flppers did the same. It looked fun so I decided to go in the water to see if I could body surf the giant peaks. As I reached the break, a mass of water crashed leaving a wake of white water that threw my body around like a rag doll. After two sets of this treatment I grew tired and decided to go in. The current was very strong and I used the white water wash from each large wave to push me in gradually. There was no fighting the ocean, I was it’s bitch. 

Brenda and I layed on our beach towels, listened to the Ipods and read magazines. I went to the store up the block and grabbed a six pack of Corona, a lime and a cheap chinese pocket knife to cut it with.

We drank a couple of the beers, smoked some medicinal marijuana and took some time to enjoy the sun and chat about Brenda’s birthday and ideas for a wedding in the future. We stared at the ocean while a lifeguard boat zipped around, frantically picking up swimmers who’d ended up near the break point of the large waves. There seemed to be a lot of people getting stuck in situations they couldn’t exactly figure out how to get out of. They were sun seekers who probably came from non beach towns and who weren’t that experienced in the water and in how to deal with currents. It was a real life Bay Watch. Red swimsuits running with red life preservers. Guards peered from their towers with binoculars while others raced down the beach in yellow trucks with sirens and lights. It was all very heroic. And real. I commented to Brenda on how the power of the ocean shows how tiny and helpless we are as human beings. “Most of these people are just like ants in a flood.”

Brenda and I went back into the water to cool off, and after a few minutes she decided to go back to the towels, and I decided to go for another body surfing session. I hesitated because of a bit of clouds, but then the sun broke through again. As I dove off in the direction of the waves, Brenda said, “Don’t die out there.” and I said “No problem.” I was a lifeguard for four years and a swimming instructor for two so I’m pretty confident and aware in the water. Simple things I knew were to not fight a current, to swim parallel in a rip, knowing not to panic against the ocean but to ride the ebb and flow of it. I made it out past the swimmers to the place where the giant waves were cresting and breaking. The waves were heavy, carrying a ton of water with each pounding. The surge was huge and as I went up into the air with the crest of each wave, it lifted my stomach like a roller coaster.  It was exhillarating, the power of the ocean made me feel aware of my humility.

I decided to swim about 100 yards to my right in order to give the surfers plenty of room, and to give myself a front row seat. About 50 yards further to the right was a boogie boarder who seemed to be enjoying the same feelings. A new set of waves came in and I dove under each wave just as it crested and crashed. After diving through the 8 foot wall of the set’s third wave, I emerged from the water with a smile, and to my left about 15 yards away I saw a seven year old boy, drowning. 

Now, I have no idea how he got there, where the fuck his parents were, why there wasn’t a lifeguard already on the way, or what the fuck I was going to do, but in three seconds I saw the boy go from screaming for his father to going completely underwater like a flapping armed dead kid that you see in movies or an “anti marijuana/pay attention commercial.” (Did I mention I was stoned) It was undoubtedly the scariest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. This boy was in serious trouble, he was going to die, within five seconds. I looked around and began waving my arms but I was too far out for anyone to notice, so I began screaming at the top of my lungs, “HELP” “HELP”, just as I did this the boy came up for one last breath and disappared below the water again. He’d gone into complete panic mode and was flailing around, choking on his words, it was the last beath of his seven year old life.

I swam in a fury towards him and grabbed his slumping body from below the water. I struggled to keep him afloat. My lifeguard training was kicking into gear but we were so far out that it was going to be a struggle to get him in. The current was sucking the both of us in and out in a white water washing machine. His head came to and he began coughing and choking. I looked to my left to see the only person within 50 yards (the boogie boarder) swimming towards us. “I’ve got fins on!” “I can make it in!” I held the boy above water and myself slightly under, and in a few seconds the boogie boarder reached us. I handed the boy over to him and onto the boogie board. “We’ve got to go with the waves.” he told the boy. “Hold onto the board, we’ll let the waves bring us in.” I swam towards them completely out of breath. Several minutes later we reached the boy’s father (in the shallows) who was unaware of the entire incident, the boy’s twin sister sitting on his shoulders. 

I think back on today and wonder what fate means. If I had done a single thing differently this entire day that boy would have been a headline and a statistic. If I’d given a bike tire one more pump, if I’d not hesitated at the beer store, if I woken up five second later, if I’d decided to eat one more bite of my lunch, if a traffic light had turned red just a second sooner; there would have been a wake, a funeral, a tombstone and a family’s life changed forever. I feel like if there is a God, he willed everything that happened today. If there’s not, then I was just in the right place at the exact right moment in the history of time. Either way, it makes me think that I was meant on this day, to be alive for a reason.

Life is precious. Enjoy it.

Tags: awesome, bay watch, beach, beer, child, corona, death, funeral, life, life guard, ocean, parenting, pocket knife, religion, saved, surf, swimming, venice, wave