Surf's up, dude...

I am generally a sarcastic person.  In fact, there is very little that comes out of my mouth not tinted with the sweet undertones of sarcasm.  Except for this weekend, of course.  Sarcasm was no where to be found and in its place was a huge dose of humility.  We just got back from Daytona/Ponce Inlet where Isabella was introduced to a full day of surfing through Surfers for Autism.  I am here to tell you that I witnessed one of the coolest things I have ever seen...not just with Isabella on the surfboard, but watching all the volunteers, other kids, parents, and vendors put together an amazing event.

I met some of the nicest people all at the beach for one purpose: to help autistic kids surf.  Isabella was somewhat of a natural attempting to stand up on her first ride out.  She fell almost immediately after standing, but she tried two more times before she just gave up and rode on her tummy - over, and over, and over again.  She did stand later, although I did not see it. She swallowed quite a bit of water and volunteered to take a break.  Isabella would live in the water if she could.  She loves the ocean - and pools, and showers, and sprinklers, and rain.  Anything to do with water has a therapeutic effect with her, as it does with almost all kids with autism.  The reason for this remains to be seen but, who cares?  She is so happy and that is all that matters.

The surf was pretty intense; the waves were well above my head and the rip current was a tad strong for my liking.  But, these guys (and girls) were amazing with helping her - riding on the back of the board to keep it weighted and guiding her in all the way to the beach.  It was really cool.  She went surfing with the president of Christian Surfers, the owner of Inlet Charley's Surf Shop and an instructor from Pure Life Surfing school.  Not to mention the many surfers who just gave up a good day of awesome waves to see some good kids have the best day of their lives.  They could have been doing anything, yet they chose to help kids - happily.  It was really a great feeling to be part of such compassion.

Surfing does not make autism go away.  There were hundreds of kids there - some typical and most autistic.  The typical kids were playing with each other, while the autistic kids played near each other, yet by themselves.  None of them interacted.  It wasn't something that really stood out for me because she was having such a good time talking with other parents or adult volunteers.  They had a puppet show where a group of about 20-30 kids sat in the sand to watch.  None of them were watching - all of them were pouring sand on their bodies, including Isabella.  Madison was watching it and dancing to the song, but the other kids were lost in the sensory effects of beach sand.  I asked Isabella today why she was doing that.  I thought maybe she was cooling herself off.  I was wrong.  She said "it just felt really neat and it was really soft."  Duh.  I should have know.  She loves soft stuff.

Madison, contrary to Isabella, had no interest in the water unless it was from the tide line.  She just wanted to roll in the sand where it remained on her face, in her ears, in her hair for the majority of the day.  It was quite comical and yes, she did eat some.

Isabella had the time of her life.  Grins from ear to ear most of the day and only a couple of instances of fleeting problematic behavior.  We had a great time watching her...hot, pregnant...it didn't matter.  I would do it again in a heart beat.  In fact, I will be doing it again next month in St. Augustine.  Mahalo.