Day Gone Bad

Day Gone Bad

It was a wonderful day at the beach with my friend. I love the beach. I also love boogie boarding. I didn’t know what kind of day it would turn into. I decided to go into the water and boogie board. My friend decided to stay on shore and just watch me. It was so fun catching the waves and ridding them in. The water wasn’t cold at all and was perfect for boogie boarding. Months earlier my cousins came over. They all were boogie boarding. I was scared to go out with them. My oldest cousin said it would be ok and took me out. It was really fun to go with her and I just had the best time. I had so much fun that months later I wanted to do it again. I went again with another friend but was hesitant to go really deep because she didn’t. Although, I was a little more confident that I could do it than before because I went with my cousin and I felt safe. Then this next time I went with yet another friend. I felt really confident that I could go boogie boarding by myself probably too confident. So I went out. It was fun but I noticed the ocean was shallow in one area and then deeper in others. It was hard to walk because at one point I would be walking and then I’d walk farther out and then I’d be sinking with I didn’t know of how far of a drop it would be. It was hard to walk then. I just didn’t really pay attention and kept on boogie boarding. At times I liked it because it was easy to stand after you came in off a wave. I looked over and saw little kids boogie boarding. Then my worst nightmare came true. I looked over and saw the biggest wave coming at me. I tried getting my board up but it was too late. The wave crashed over me and the next thing I remember is the worst headache I’ve ever felt in my whole life. My neck turned and I thought I broke my neck. I thought I was paralyzed. I told myself I have to get to shore. It was hard to get up and move. Finally I gained enough strength to get up. I tried running to shore. I remember hearing myself call out for help but my voice was muffled because my tongue was bit and my lips were cut and I saw a man race toward me. He sat me down and then my friend came over and I remember her saying, “OH MY GOD” I can’t imagine what she might have been thinking. She just kept saying, “I’m so sorry.” But my nose kept bleeding and it was so painful. The paramedics came and they wanted to put me in a neck brace. I did not want my neck in a brace. It was really scary because I remember last time I was in one of those I couldn’t move and felt claustrophobic and not in control of anything. But I know they were just trying to help me and looking back I did not want to make it harder on them. Finally they let me stay out of the brace and realized I did not need it. I sat there for a while, still and let them check me out. They finally realized I was in bad shock and just let me sit there for a while crying. I didn’t know at the time that I broke my nose and that’s why my nose was bleeding so much. It was bruised on the inside and on the outside. Plus, my mouth was cut pretty bad on my lip. I also think I must have bit my tongue because later on it was black. I thought my day would be fun but later on I got to see how my day of fun could have changed my whole life. I am lucky to even have functions that enable me to write this. After the paramedics cleaned me up, I thanked them and my friend called my dad to come get me cause I didn’t know how severe my injuries were that I could be driving home. All in all I learned a great lesson that day. It was my fault I got hurt because someone wasn’t in the water with me. My friend didn’t go in with me so I thought I was safe because she was watching me from the shore. Next time I will make sure I have someone to go in the water with me and maybe I will research the beaches a little more.