My Better Half

I told myself I would type this out so I can remember later how much the Lord definitely gave me my better half. Mo & I went to Siesta Key at the end of the summer. It was so wonderful and a much needed vacation as it had been a couple years since the last beach trip we took, even though I got sick the first night and was sick the entire week it was still totally worth it to get away and to be at the beach. We tried to fill this vacation with some activities we’ve always wanted to do, and even though we didn’t get to do everything we did get to do two activities we both never did before and it was a great adventure. When we were planning our vacation, our main goal was to go somewhere we could surf; my sister in law recommended Siesta Key and when we looked it up we thought that would be a great spot to learn somewhat about surfing as the water is calm, clear and beautiful there. The beach has a huge shallow area and you can see the bottom, which was kind of freaking us out at first because we could see fish swimming towards our feet! It is a gorgeous beach!


The first thing we wanted to do was some type of surfing. Mo came across Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) which is very similar to surfing except the boards are wider and you use a paddle. It was so much fun but also a little scary. See I'm not a huge fan of the ocean, and there was a light wind that day so everytime we stood up on the boards to paddle it was as if we were acting as a sail and we quickly drifted out into the ocean..out of the shallow water. We would then have to sit down and paddle our way back in to do it again. There were a couple times I got out there and there was a big distance from me to the shore & me to Mo it was very scary. One time I really started freaking out and told Mo that I couldn't get back in, but Mo ~ my better half ~ he just calmed me down and told me to focus. I realized a lot about myself that day, first how I would react if I was in Cast Away (I probably would not survive), second that I freeze when faced with frighting circumstances that I feel I cannot control, and third that God definitely gave me my much better half.


The second activity we wanted to do for the first time was kayaking. The condo we rented offered a tandem kayak we could use. The day we were going to finally try it out, I personally just did not want to. I did not want to get wet or flip and to be honest I think I was in a grumpy mood. :) It was a bad experience for me in many ways and didn't help that I was just really did not have the best attitude. You have to work together with your partner to paddle and move forward or backwards or turn right or left, so you can see where you can learn a lot about how well you work with your spouse and communicate with each other. I think every couple should try this out someday together to see how well they do! :) Even though the experience of kayaking was terrible for me and to make it ten times worse I had just shaved my legs that morning and ladies you know what happens when salt water hits your freshly shaved legs...everytime I paddled the water would run down the paddle onto my legs! It was horrible! However - it was a great learning lesson on why the Lord put Mo & I together. Mo encouraged me to just try it out and here was the opportunity. He coached me on getting into the kayak, communicated so well with me on where to paddle and which direction, and he was so patient and calm. The experience was not the best, but the gratefulness for my husband afterwards I wouldn't trade.


Here's a few pictures of us and even though we don't have a picture to show proof of us standing up on the surf board - we actually did and it was not that hard.


Two great adventures with my better half that I will definitely remember!

Tandem Kayak - and my better half

The SUP boards on our car!