firsts

I had a lot of firsts this weekend.

First #1: I spent part of my Friday afternoon with 9 middle school girls at Crispers. Fun, but very loud.

First #2: My roommate Dan turned 26 on Saturday and another friend of his hosted a poker night to celebrate. I'd never played before and opted to just watch the first game thinking it wouldn't take long. Little did I know that those games can last over an hour. Halfway through the game I discovered that Texas Hold 'Em applies many of the same principles as Yahtzee. I found myself wishing that I'd joined the game in the beginning and had just folded the first few rounds so that I could jump in once I got the hang of it.

First #3: I went...well, attempted surfing on Sunday with 5 high schoolers and a dad. It was a blast. People thought we were crazy for going out there with the weather as cool as it was here in FL, but we'd made the plans two weeks prior and weren't going to let some wind chill scare us off. So we made our way to the surfboard rental place (5 bucks for 2 hour rental of board and rashguard...what a deal!) at Cocoa Beach and jumped in. I quickly learned that surfing is hard work. I also got confirmation that I'm not really an athlete and have awful balance. I managed to stand on the board for maybe two seconds, but did a little better on my knees. (I know that's not the goal, but I had to take what I could get.) My desire for Advil at the end of the afternoon reminded me that I'm no longer the young guy I was just a few years back.

It was great to get away for even just the afternoon and was such a bonding experience for the seven of us. We cheered for each other when we caught a wave, laughed when we messed up and simply got to enjoy nature. Even when I was just sitting peacefully on the board waiting for the next wave, it felt like we were enjoying God's creation the way it was meant to be done.