Another tribute

It's been a crazy and wonderful week. The house on the North Shore was amazing, huge and spacious and perfect for an enormous group with a passel of munchkins, right across from Chun's Reef, a break that is more intimidating than the baby waves I get at my local beach on the south shore, but not so huge that I couldn't catch a ride from time to time.

And speaking of, I'm officially surfing again. Jason and I have been every day for the past 5 or 6, and it's been so great. Yesterday we went out in the morning (my mom hung out with Zeke) and even though there was a huge crowd, it seemed like most of the people were just sitting on their boards because they weren't properly positioned to catch any waves. Without any help from Jason, I caught about 7 or 8 waves on my own, and was figuring out how to turn into the wave and walk the board. It's a long paddle out to the waves, though, so after about 45 minutes I was exhausted, plus all the paddling was making my shoulder ache where I separated it. But it was a sweet morning in the water, and so fun to be out with Jason.

In other news, my education law course got approved by the law school. So it looks like I'm going to be a law professor. So exciting, but also completely surreal.

We're back at home now, and I'm missing everyone like crazy. The nice thing is, Jason and Zeke and I are going to Denver next month to see Kathleen and her crew to do some skiing. I'm still all a-glow from seeing everyone, and overwhelmed at the fact that they flew out all this way to see me and spend time with me. So it's time for a tribute:

Mindy and Chris: Flew out from Atlanta with two small kids and stayed for two weeks. Mindy kept the house in clean laundry. Chris kept us in yummy food with his cooking. They both did well surfing -- Mindy got up on her very first try and rode a wave in to the shore. Chris did a "dawn raid" with J and me to a surf break on the west side and cheerfully rode in a beach chair in the back of Jason's noisy cargo van. Gave Jason an insanely generous gift card to a North Shore surf shop -- enough to get him a new board. 5 Organic Veggie Burgers.

Michele: Flew out from Atlanta with a 4 week old baby, and could only stay for 3 days. Was cheerful and wonderful in spite of an appalling lack of sleep. Spoiled us with her amazing vodka pasta. 5 Gulfstream V Jets.

Grayson: Overcame his nervousness (perfectly natural, given that he's only 3 years old) to get onto a surfboard and let Jason push him (gently) into waves. 5 Boogie Boards.

Kathleen and Addie: Flew from Denver to Atlanta to Honolulu in a short time, made me smile constantly with their cheer and sweetness. Kathleen fed her surf jones and got up on the board a bunch of times, including one ride that qualified as "wave of the day." Brought Zeke a bunch of great toys for the Jewish Holidays (all of them), including a stuffed Hannukah menorah and a Jewish holiday puzzle. Addie made a beautiful piece of art with paper, tape and stickers that is now adorning our fridge. She also entertained us with a hula dance in her new hula girl outfit. 5 Princess Crowns.

Mom: In addition to giving birth to me and being the greatest mom ever, she flew out to see me for my birthday, bought us groceries, cleaned up after us, watched Zeke so we could get time in the water, and generally was the wonderful sweetheart she always is. 5 Perfect Tans.

And last, but certainly not least....

Jason: Spent the entire last year organizing the week for me. Did all of it to make me happy, knowing how much I miss my friends. Cheered me on in the surf, giving me useful pointers and celebrating when I did well. Generally behaved like a mensch and a sweetheart, as he always does. I love you, babe. 5,000 Perfect Waves.