I came this close to Heaven... Dying that is.

It was amazing: glassy, perfect barrels. I ran back to the truck, grabbed my board, and headed down to the beach with my cousin. As we ran toward the water she asked me one last time if i was going to be fine without a wetsuit. Of course I was gonna be fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? I do amazingly in cold water. However, this was not cold water. It wasn't even close to cold water. We got past the waves and started paddling as fast as we could toward the sets. As I began  to look to my right i heard her yell, " I'm gonna take this one!"  The last thing i saw was the nose of the board dive straight into the water. I knew she was a goner. The board flying in the air proved it.  Seeing a set in front of me, I paddled as fast as I could to get past it. I knew I was gonna get trashed. By this time my body had almost acclimated to the freezing temperature. though, I never fully submerged my body in the waves.  

     The wave came full force forcing me to duck under it. As I was underwater my mind went completely blank, and i stopped breathing. It was awful. Even after I surfaced, I was without breath. finally, my body allowed me to gasp for air. I looked back, thanking God it was all over. However, seeing another wave heading my way, I swam as fast as I could toward shore. Without getting very far, I dove under again. The same thing happened as before. My mind went blank and my breath left. I surfaced once more and could not breath.  Finally I was able to stand and air filled my lungs. My cousin was on shore about to go back out when she saw what was happening to me.  Once I was out of the ocean, I started Hyperventilating.I put my hands over my mouth as tight as possible trying to get the whole "Paper bag" effect. For the most part it worked. Once my breathing was normal,I pretty much narrowed it down to the water being so freezing that it took my breath away. Hug me the next time you see me. I'm alive!