The end of summer?

I'm...waitin' for my board
Seventy-five dollars in my hand
He's never early, he's always late
The first thing that you learn is that you always have to wait
I'm...waitin' for my board.

That's the tune I'm singing now. It's a slight variation of Lou Reed's classic "Waiting for my man," about a drug deal. The words are just as true of surfboard repairers. That's why no posts for a while.

What a hell of a summer it's been. Not that I am accepting that summer is over; traditionally we have warm weather until October at least, and last year September was the nicest month of the summer. I was out surfing in a bathing suit in the middle of the month. Summer can't be over!

And yet it's turned cool, too cool to sit on the beach even in the sun, cool enough that people are already wearing 3/2s. Usually the ocean temperature peaks in September, but not this year, and once it starts going down it doesn't stop til March.

So I've been thinking about the summer of '06. Certainly it was the longest, hottest summer in my memory. And I think not just me, but a lot of people I know, are looking back at where we were in May and saying to ourselves: Summer didn't turn out like we wanted or expected. How the hell did we get here? Everywhere, it seems, friendships have broken down, lovers have turned into enemies. One friend is in rehab and has changed his whole life. A stranger came to town and wreaked havoc on our community and now it seems has disappeared as suddenly as she came. Numerous people have changed addresses. My former friend S., the first fellow surfer I ever met shortly after I first started trying to surf, has just become a married woman. Married to someone she met surfing, naturally.

It's been a hard summer, a very challenging summer; even when I was having fun it was hard. At times I was very happy, at times as sad as I have ever been, and at all times I pushed my limits in both surfing and in life as I never have before. It's not a summer I would have missed for anything but oh, if I could go back and change some things, how I would.

Let's not forget: I learned to surf, really learned! I have friends who were virtual strangers back in May. (And also, virtual strangers who were friends back then.) I did a lot of things I never thought I could do, I will leave some details to your imagination. I had some of the best sex of my life. And some of the strangest times. I asked myself a dozen times this summer: What the hell am I doing? and then kept doing it. I did not act my age. I hung out with boys half my age. My dog nearly died. I took lots of chances. I cried on the beach. I learned to drink the Rockaway way: at every possible opportunity and way too much but strangely, never getting really drunk. No matter what else was happening, whether my heart was broken or I was hung over,I went surfing every possible chance I got in all conditions. I survived a 100-degree heat wave. I developed a skin thicker than any human being needs to have (a humbling experience which is necessary for hanging out with boys half your age).

I'm glad to have met and gotten to know so many people this summer, especially C.'s friends. Real treasures and good looking men too (very married).

And last but not least, I am glad to have "met" so many of you commenters on this blog. Your advice and support has contributed to making this a great and challenging summer.

The craziness is over, the waves are getting big. I guess it's fall.