the day before today (which would be yesterday), kristin lent me one of her longboards. how it came to pass was i began telling her that b (my eldest) wanted to learn how to ride a longboard like her daddy. i found a sector 9 bamboo series that is pretty sweet, but i want her to learn before spending the money.

after work, i went home and told b to get her shoes on.

"why daddy?"
"you'll see."

we go outside and i pop the trunk. pull out the board and show it to her. "we're just borrowing this board right now, ok."

i've been known to teach how to snowboard and wakeboard, but those were older guys that i could ask questions. one main question is: goofy or regular. a goofy footed person rides with their right foot forward, whereas a regular is left foot forward. there are two ways to determine this. 1. you can ask. 2. well, keep reading.

not knowing if b was goofy or regular didn't matter until now, so i had her stand in front of me and while i was talking to her, i gave a slight push, not hard, but enough for her to lose her balance. soon, she was standing with her left foot in front of her right and viola, she is regular, like me.

i went through the basics of the board. how to push and stand. how to turn and how to stop. i took a couple passes on the board with her watching and showing her the proper techniques. now, it was her turn. i held the rear wheels with my foot while placing her on the board. "balance is key," i tell her and have her just stand. then position her left foot on the board and show her how to push with her right. i remove my foot and take the maiden voyage. i hold on to her, keeping her balanced properly. the board is wobbly under her little feet, but soon she is learning how to push without me holding on. she rides up and down the street with me in tow. right behind her whenever she falls or loses balance.

rin calls us in for dinner after we were at it for a while.

"can we come back out after dinner, daddy?"
"yesh."

after dinner, all the kids came out and it became more hectic, but b and i kept the learning process going. i went and got my board and rode back and forth with her. she was amazing. she was learning how to walk the board and ride the nose. it was awesome surfing the pavement with my daughter...