Well … it happened. I turned 50 years old last month. In talking to a few others who’ve gone through it recently, I’ve discovered that I’ve been tons more paranoid about this milestone than most people. I’m a naturally over-worried type, which drives people around me crazy at times. It makes me a little overcautious, which is why I don’t surf big waves. It makes me apprehensive about the world I’ve brought my kids into, which is why I care about the environment. Behind it all, there’s this pesky, irrational little voice in my head that keeps telling me that once you hit 50, brah/dude/bro, you’re "officially old." OMG!

Against my better judgment, I shared these feelings with my wife, who laughed heartily and read me off about how bleedin’ silly I was being. She reminded me that I had lots to show, lots to look forward to, a great family, good career, and on and on. You know the drill. I appreciated her assurances, but as my birthday loomed ever so close, there I was, silly as it sounds, worried sick about how it might affect my surfing! Subliminally, this is what really drove my fear of 50. Is that crazy? If there’s anything in this world I hate more than nosy neighbors and beets, it’s the idea of getting too old and feeble to surf.

I do ok for an “old guy”.  (Photo: HawaiianSwell.com)

I've had to come to grips with the fact that I’m no longer that buffed out 20 something rock & roll surf punk with the six pack abs. I was now a domestic android, with a full time job, three rascal kids, an expanding waistline, thinning hair, failing eyesight, chronically bad knees, and incrementally diminishing play time. The coup de grace was recieving an application in the mail for my AARP membership card ... that freaked me out!!! 

I see a lot of older surfers who remain very active in the water these days that give me hope that I can keep it going for maybe another 20 years, the operative word being "hope". Most of my surf heroes are still surfing up a storm at near and beyond 60 and 70. I’m always watching and asking to see how they keep the stoke going. I surf a lot with an amazing gentleman who at 74 puts in more quality surf time than me. He’s happily retired and rarely misses a day in the surf, and he’ll drive all four corners of the island, often in the same day, looking for the best waves. The man is unbelievable and a great example of how surfing keeps you young physically, mentally, and spiritually.

If the legs go, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!  (Photo: Greg Rice)

I always tell folks, and I’ve made a solemn promise to myself that I’ll surf until I absolutely can’t anymore, whatever the reason may be. And when I can’t stand up on a surfboard, I’ll bodysurf until I can’t anymore. It’s like a drug, this waveriding thing. You just want more and more and more, and I can’t see myself doing without it for too long. Mentally, I still feel like I'm 20, and surfing is the fountain of youth.  So in the end, feeling and staying young is all a state of mind. Anyway, thanks for allowing me to vent, and I’d like to apologize to my Mom and Dad, who thought that surfing was a "juvenile phase" I’d eventually grow out of. That was three decades ago. Aloha and see you in the water, ya young whippersnappers!