My friend William emailed me the link to a seven minute video. His email had no note. He only sends what he feels has value, so, with curiosity, I clicked.
There I was, peering inside the curl of giant surf that hit our West Coast last week. The wave was massive—a literal thirty foot wall of water. Then, out of the violent, still center, surfed a man, riding the immensity of the curl. Wholly in the present, a slip-up away from serious injury or death, he balanced, flexing with the water’s movement, as the wave’s curl traveled.
In slow motion, his balance shifts, and the board slips out from under him. He’s caught in the Maytagging motion.
The video rides another monstrous wave, and another surfer emerges from its unimaginable depths. So much speed, yet somehow motionless, he is caught in the womb of the giant. Until, yet again, he loses that split second balance and goes down.
We all surf the wall of water called life—some of us with fine balance, some with clumsy attempts. Life seems oversized, outscaled; we appear minuscule in its grip. Apparently all there is to do is grab our boards again, wait for the precise time, launch into the vortex, and surrender.
All day, as events unfolded, some easy, some more challenging, I murmured “Surf, girl, surf!”—and found my balance inside the wave.
Wave and woman, life and woman, not two.
© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2014
photo credit
PS Do not miss the video! Carve out seven minutes as a gift to yourself.
the heart of the matter 
I am always captivated and willingly allow you to take me anywhere you want through your writing. I will watch the video, but wanted to respond to your words and the experience I have while reading your musings, insights and descriptions. I miss you- wanted to call you in the states but way to busy. Eugene has an empty spot where you both were! Love, Rabi’a
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Wow—-thank you for this amazing video! The beauty and the terror intertwined…..felt like a womb to me, too.
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Wow . .great way to start the day . . . Loved the video, loved your comments.
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Oh my! Lovely description, commentary and musings! Seems like a lifetime ago you and I (and Boudewijn) rode the waves together, linked by daily molecule-sharing, smiles, work, food and by our loving hearts and spirits. Years have gone by now with irregular physical and written contact. Still, you both inhabit me, seeded as I was by your love and friendship and care. Even today, I take coffee with you remembering the multitudes of mugs you dripped for us. Even yesterday, I touched the hummingbird earrings you made me, your essence in them, soft. And last week, several random thoughts about you both seeped up from some dear, quiet cave and became fond remembrances, my eyes crinkling as the corners of my lips curved upward. I contact you weekly, you know, via my thoughts and heart, gratitude that you are with me, even now, even here.
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