Ben took this photo of me four weeks after a lapse in surfing protocol (always cover your head) left me with a concussion. We had just ordered surf helmets, and I needed a break from concentrating. Previous to my own, I thought a concussion meant a headache and avoiding NFL linebackers for a few weeks. Twenty-four hours passed without symptoms, and it took four days for them to peak. Ten total weeks would pass before returning to work, and I spent most of that away from reading, TV, radio, and driving. Regularly telling my energetic four-year-old “Daddy needs to go rest now” was the hardest part. If I didn’t use my brain I wasn’t in discomfort, so the suffering stemmed from isolation and wondering if I would be in the two-week recovery window or the three-month.
Surprisingly, only one person has asked if I plan to give up surfing. It was a fluke accident that probably wouldn’t happen again if I surfed 100 more years, but I’d like to mitigate the burden I put on my clients and family. A helmet now protects my head. My poor wife spent her busy season doing all school drop-off/pick up, cooking, cleaning and parenting. The 2018 concussion was more of a strain on her than me. There are lots of times I feel like I don’t deserve Brooke. One of them is when she expresses excitement for me to get back in the water. Can you believe that? A common refrain around the house these days is “YOBLO”: You Only Briefly Live Once.
by Channing