better choices, better life....

I returned home from work around 4:30pm on Thursday, October 26th. I kicked off my shoes, set my backpack in it's familiar corner and proceeded to open the door to my living room. I remember thinking to myself, "Damn, I need to tidy up the place a bit." My futon floor bed wasn't put away and yesterday's clothes had yet to find the hamper. I walked over to my computer, sat in my computer stool, and turned on the silver box. I got up and poured myself some 'mixed fruit' juice from the kitchen and returned to my chair. Suddenly, before I could sit down and get comfortable, my doorbell rang.
"Who in the.......could this be?" I rarely have visitors so I was thinking it was either a solicitor or the post man. When I opened my front door I was burdened by surprise. There were 3 children and 1 short lady about late 30's all bundled up in proper winter jumpers.
"Uhm, can I help you?" sounding a bit confused.
She had a warm smile that was very sincere.
"Yes, are you Thomas?"
"Yah, I'm Thomas," I replied. Though, shortly after I said that I felt like I might have just confessed to an unknown crime.
Her smile got bigger, "I'm Mariko Sensei and I teach at the ECC in Tenmabayashi. We are having a children's Halloween party and was wondering if you would like to come." She held out her hand that gripped a piece of paper with a bright orange pumpkin on it.
"Oh wow? Really?" I was a bit more shocked than enthusiastic. I received the invitation and quickly glanced at it....Saturday......11:30am to 1:30pm......Tenmabayashii ECC building. On the backside was a map that had instructions on how to get to the place from my house. FROM MY HOUSE?! The tidbit of info I had gathered all accumulated into a bad recipe of.... "Saturday? Damn I wanna surf." My second reaction was, "Wait, how did she know where I lived?" Adding fuel to the flame, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable because the kids she brought were my 1st grade students. They were so excited to see me as I gave them a number of hi-5's. They were yelling out, "Please come, please come!!" What was I to do? How could I say no? In spite of their cute faces I didn't want to commit on such short notice and so I responded with, "Well I'm not sure if I will be free. I will call you tomorrow evening if I can attend." Given the situation I thought that was an acceptable reply. I mean who invites someone to a Halloween party with 2 days notice? Halloween just doesn't pop up like a random household cold. Although, I have to hand it to her, bringing the kids along really was an effective strategy...dirty but effective. This lady was clearly thinking because she knew I wouldn't be able to decline in front of the kids. I thanked her and said goodbye to children and slid my door shut. I returned to my computer stool, sat down and sipped my juice feeling a bit like I was man-handled....toyed to be exact.
I returned to my juice and screen to check the weather report for the following Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather report showed strong onshores that day. Honestly, I wasn't stoked to surf in junk and therefore I decided to accept the invitation to the Halloween party. Also, I was looking forward to the party because I did know a lot of the ECC students that were going to attend the function. And of course it would be a great photo op as well. I called Mariko Sensei to tell her I would attend, but she was out and instead I left a message. I slept well with the decision I made. I was excited to see my cute kids all dressed up in Halloween gear.

When I woke up at 8am I did my morning routine, but like any good surfer would, I checked the surf report one last time. This was the worst decision I could have made because it tore me apart. Ignorance would have been bliss. The weather report showed perfect offshore winds with swell coming in from the east!! OMG!! I was about to die. I took the phone from the charger and searched for Mariko Sensei's phone number. I pressed the "on" button and looked at the numbers and miraculously, I stopped myself. I turned the paper over again and looked at the map. There was a star that marked my house and an X that marked the party location. Was I really about to come up with some phony excuse so I could go surf? Looking at what I was about to do, I felt like I did not deserve that star. I took in a deep breath and when I exhaled I killed all my aspirations for surfing that day. I grabbed my camera and proceeded to the X. Extreme!!

As I pulled up the few kids that were outside came running up to my car with smiles cheek cheek. I put on my costume which consisted of an afro wig, a skeleton mask I made during one of my elementary school lessons, and lastly a cape. As I entered the building I saw all the kids dressed up in various costumes having fun. At that moment, I knew I made the right decision. If I could have this day back I would do exactly the same thing. Celebrating Halloween with some of my elementary school kids comes once year. While I love surfing, waves will always come another day.