"...for your age..."?

It's 75 degrees! I'd hoped to make it up before high tide but I haven't. C. calls and says that, nevertheless, there are small rideable waves. He says to come to the beach right away. I do.

I ask him to show me the popup and even though I get to ask a lot of the questions I have wanted to ask, I'm still confused. He tells me to focus on one thing: keeping my head up. Not looking down at my board, or my feet. I seem to be able to do this, at least on land.

Then I'm out in the water and he's watching and yelling at me---sheesh, making me nervous. But I'm able to get up. I don't stay up, and in any case the waves are breaking so close to shore that a ride would be about 1 ½ seconds.

C. has to leave shortly so then I'm out in the water with 2 guys who are only slightly better than me. They're mellow and friendly, giving tips to each other and me.

The keeping your head up thing works for getting up more easily, but time after time I find that without looking down I can't place my feet anywhere near where they might balance in the center of the board. From what I can tell without looking, but just from the way I'm falling, they're either off to the side (I fall off the side) or too far back (I fall off the back). In the split second before I fall I look down at my feet and that seems to confirm those conclusions.

Once or twice I get a little bit of a ride. One or two seconds. The other guy who's out does much better; he can turn and gets a six or seven second ride out of the little waves.

C. says I should try bigger waves.

Later I tell him of my frustrations. He says it will work out. We blab a bit. He says something else that, ladies and gentlemen, I would like your opinions on. "You are in good shape for your age." Is that a compliment or an insult? If you were saying this to someone, what would it mean? If someone said it to you, what would you think?

I guess he probably meant well. It's hard not to focus on the age thing. I am, after all, somewhat of a freak of nature, by far the oldest woman trying to surf at our beach.