Throwin' It Back to 2003

I grew up at the beach and I can't imagine what it would have been like not to. When I was a little girl I went to the beach every day of the week and played in the sand with all of my friends. I was about 3 my dad took me out in the water for the first time, not just by the shore but into the powerful waves. I remember the first time he took me out I made him put me onto his shoulders and I refused to let the ice cold ocean touch my feet and if it did I'd scream. I was so scared of the water that I didn't even want it to touch me. My dad is a very tall guy, around 6'7" so he could take me out pretty far out into the water before my feet would tap the water but one day the tide was high and the waves were bigger than usual. I went out with my dad on his shoulders like always and we were just hanging out when all of a sudden a huge set came. I was about 6 years old so I got really scared because I had never been in the water when such a big wave came. As a kid I swam on a swim team and was quite a strong swimmer for a 6 year old and my dad knew this so when the wave came my dad knew he couldn't make it under safely with my on his back but, he also knew I was a good enough swimmer to make it under safely on my own. So when it came he told me to get off his shoulders and swim as fast as I could towards the wave. The wave scared me so much I didn't waste a second I swam to the wave as fast as I could, every time I lifted my head to take a breath I could see the wave building, higher and higher. I kept swimming into it, I looked up to take a breath and the wave faced me with fury I didn't stop to think I knew I had to go under it. I took one last big breath and closed my eyes and swam straight into it, my heart pounding so fast and so loud I could almost hear it as i dove under. It felt as though the wave passed over me in slow motion as I swam forward to fight the power behind the wave. I could hear it crash after it went over me and I swam up for air. Ever since that wave my parents can hardly drag me out of the water no matter what the surf looks like.