Big Bertha and the Fat Lip...a short story by me.

Ok, I do not claim to be a super surfer or anything even close to that; just a girl who grew up at the beach and surfed every summer growing up (as a "fair weather surfer). I only go when the waves are just right for me . . . not too big and not too powerful; just right-like goldie locks. So this weekend the surf was up thanks to the hurricane that churned up some swell. Fitz got up bright and early and checked the online surf reports and when there are no reports listed then the surf is great because everyone is out surfing. He headed out and got a good hour and a half before he came home to spend come quality time with Lilly. Then we headed out again in the afternoon, while my Mom got her Lilly fix in. Having had fun on Saturday, we decided to head out again Sunday morning; although the wave were not as big as Saturday they were a bit more powerful. So with Lilly once again in great hands with my Mom; we commenced surfing. On ride number 2 for me, I was a bit to far forward on the board and over the front I went. Now as a seasoned wiper-outer, I went straight to the bottom to avoid the surf board hitting me, but forgot that with low tide I was only in 18 or less inches of water. And before I knew what had happened some part of my board had.....whamo...in the face. I stand up quickly and I'm seeing stars....thinking that's no good...touch my face and think I hope I did not break my jaw. Fitz heads in to check on me and I start spitting blood. So we head into shore and I keep spitting blood. We go through all of the check...open/close mouth-check, no loose teeth-check, small cut requiring no stitches-check, check, and check. Ok, clean it with some salt water, and head back out...but I had lost my nerve and we just headed home instead. Then we had a nice visit with our good friends..EP and J. Kane from Raleigh. And I found my nerve again, and we headed back out for some afternoon surfing with my Dad. We all caught some nice rides, and I even impressed myself and fun was had by all. Some people chose to get tattoos on the inside of their lip....I prefer self-inflicted marks. Here's to losing one's nerve and finding again in time to have a BLAST!! (I know the photos are now very impressive, but today I look like I had collagen injected into my bottom lip. And I could not post photos without adding a photo of Lilly.)