I just sold my surfboard and that makes me sad. I should be happy as this gets us one step closer to going on our round the world trip. But, I loved that board!
About 15 years ago I discovered the joys of surfing. At that time I was a college student working a low paying job in a pizza restaurant and did not have a lot of spare money. One of the great things about surfing is waves are free and any extra money I had went to the purchase of a wetsuit and an old longboard. Every weekend I would load my 1973 VW camper bus with boards, beer, and friends and we would head for the Oregon coast to camp at Pacific City and spend the weekends surfing.
During my last year of engineering school a classmate decided that he was going to sell everything he owned and join a commune in Virginia making tofu and hammocks for $30 a month. I could not fathom why this 40 year old guy would spend the last few years going through engineering school and then throw it all away for hammocks and tofu. Before he left to live on the commune I bought his surfboard and found it to be one of the greatest surfboards I have ever ridden.
As I approach my 40th birthday I have a glimpse of what my classmate was after. But instead of hammocks and tofu, we are selling everything we own to travel the world. Some things are more important than sitting in an office cubicle 9 hours a day. There is a big world out there and we should all find our place in it, even if that includes making hammocks and tofu. So, I have passed the surfboard onto someone else. And maybe one day, they will sell it in order to chase their dreams too.