And I was up! Just like that. Skimming across the surface of the water. The warm Costa Rican sun pounding down on my back, and glistening off the endless ocean around me. It was what I would imagine flying to be like; amazing yet terrifying. When I first stood up all that was going through my mind was, “You’re doing it! Uh oh. Now the real trick is, don’t completely and utterly fail.”

Costa Rica, what an amazing place to have been. The air hot with humidity, and filled with the smell of exotic plants. There were so many adventurous things to do: walk across suspension bridges, fly through the forest on a zip line, climb a mountain, go on a tour with deadly animals. But I had something else in mind, the ocean. My love was the ocean. The big blue. Huge, unbelievably huge. When you’re in it, you feel like you could be the only one alive. Alone, but accompanied by the warm water surrounding you. The ocean—that was where I wanted to be while in Costa Rica.

My mom and I spent a few days in a little town called Uvita. There were amazing beaches on the coast of this village. Pearly white sand, and the ocean mellow at some times of the day. And guess where I wanted to be the whole time. Yup, the ocean. My mom was fine with that, so one morning we drove to a little private beach a few minutes out of town.

As we were driving down the bumpy road to the beach we saw an interesting little place called The Flutterby House. There was a big sign up on the fence that instantly caught my eye: surfing lessons. I just looked at my mom and smiled, what I hoped was an adorable smile that would convince her to let us get lessons. It worked! We went inside The Flutterby House and asked to get surf lessons for the afternoon. The person said, “You are in luck! Our best surf instructor is here today and he is free right at this moment!” I swear I was so excited I gave a squeal of joy.

Before I knew it, we had picked out rash guards and surfboards the right height for us. Then we went down to the ocean, walking along the beach. My feet sank in the damp sand as I looked out across the water. It stretched for miles, the ocean did. Seemingly endless, even though I did know if you went far enough you would hit land eventually, but who knows where.

I remember how the instructor made us practice before we could go into the ocean. Oh how it felt like a lifetime. The waves pulsed in and out about 10 feet away from me. I wanted to grab my surfboard and launch myself into the refreshing aqua waves. But this I could not do. I had to practice before I could go out. That’s what the instructor kept telling me at least. “It will be easier when you can jump up on your board on land, then go out into the ocean.” I didn’t believe him. I mean seriously, how hard could it actually be? In the end he was right, and I was wrong. I’m just very glad he made me and my mom practice so much before we went out.

“Don’t go from your belly to your knees to standing up! You have to push up with your hand, to jump to a crouch with your feet underneath you.” I did exactly what he said over and over, until I had it just perfect. Well perfect enough for me. Since my mom and I were doing so good we decided to hit the water. We wadded in, shocked by how nipping cold the water was. I just held my breath and kept going. Once we were about waist deep in the water, the instructor told us to hop on our boards and paddle on our bellies the rest of the way out. So we did this.
A paddled out to a point a little before the waves started to fully form. It’s the point out in the ocean where the water starts to become a wall. It rises up and pulls forward before it finally crashes down on the beach. I laid at that spot when I felt a tug on my board. He had told me that when you feel the water start to pull you, start paddling, HARD. You have to work to stay with the wave, let it tug you to the right point, then you stand up. My board started to get pulled sideways. I knew what I had to do, so I pushed up from my hands and jumped to my feet! But I lost my balance and tipped over. Again and again I did this. Paddled out into the ocean, felt the tug, felt the wave pull me sideways and stood up. But again and again I would fall over. Crash into the hard surface of the water. Get pulled under by a current. I would not give up. I couldn’t. I wanted this so badly. I knew I would have to work to get it right, so I did.

After getting brutally pummeled by yet another wave, I saw the perfect crest of a wave forming. I paddled, hard. I had to make it out to this wave. As I got just about on it I noticed how large it was.”Well,” I thought, “this shall be interesting, wont it?” I laughed to myself expecting yet another beating. I waited patiently, putting off the time when I would have yet one more disappointment.

After a few seconds of thinking and remembering my instructions, I felt a tug at the back of my board. So I started paddling, HARD. I was pulled sideways, more like ripped sideways. I popped up. Straight from my belly to a crouch. Then I stood up. I was up, actually up! Just like that! Skimming across the surface of the water. Me and my board glided smoothly on this huge wave. The warm Costa Rican sun pounded down on my back and glistened off the endless ocean around me. I was up.

Never give up, this is what I learned from this totally amazing experience. If you want something, actually want it bad, get it do it. Accomplish it. I wanted to surf, but I was having troubles. I didn’t give up. I almost did, but I wanted it badly enough I couldn’t. So I tried, tried and tried again, until I finally got it. I was proud to say, “Today I learned to surf.” I didn’t say, “Yeah I tried and tried but it was too hard so I gave up.” NO. I was able to say, “ Today I surfed. I didn’t give up. I actually did it.” It felt good to say this. To not have given up, and to have said, “I did this for myself.”