Tenacity and Determination

My son, Zack called at lunch. "Mom would you be willing to pick me up after school and go to Chron?" "You think there's surf?" I asked him.
"It's worth a look see," he responded.

So after a quick rush home to load his board and wet suit and the dog, off we went to check it out. It was a bone chillingly cold day, grey and cloudy.

The waves were big and jumbled up.

The potato patch (a spot way way off shore) was breaking, probably 25 - 30 feet.

We hung out in the parking lot for a bit watching the waves.
A teenager was changing out of his wetsuit and Zack went up to him.
"How was it out there?" "Ahh, well, it felt good to get wet. Seems like it's calming down a bit now.

" My son watched a few more waves and gave me the thumbs up.
"I'm going for it.
" As he started to suit up a man came over and asked me, "Is your son going out?" "Looks like it." "Yeah my son just came in.
I'm trying to decide if I should go out.
" We hung around as Zack waxed his board, put on his hood and helmet, struggled into his gloves and finally slammed the tailgate and said, "I'll see you in what, like an hour, hour and a half?" "Sounds good sweetie, see you then." Zack comes over and whispers, "Aww Mom, don't call me sweetie, or at least not here.

" My big guy son. After all he is 14 and has probably outgrown the honeys and sweeties in public.

As Zack trotted down to the shore pound I hung around waiting to watch him paddle out. The Dad came over and asked me, "Does it make you nervous watching him out there.

" "Well, sometimes, sure, but he loves it so much and I know he has good wave sense and good smarts, I try not to get too worried.

I try to let it go.

But, hey I'm a Mom, and truthfully, of course I worry a little bit. " We got to chatting and watched as Zack paddled and paddled.
It was a mess out there, churned up and all back waterish and tons of white water.

After about 40 minutes he hadn't really made any progress.
He just kept at it.
paddling his heart out.
Usually it is not this difficult for him.

Another guy came over and watched with us.

Finally, the Dad points to Zack and says, "That kid is going to be successful in life.

He is one determined kid out there.

He doesn't give up easily." "No," I said, "he does not.
He is tenacious.

" "That's a good thing.

It will get him far in life.

" I thought about it and it is true, Zack is a very determined and tenacious kid. Whatever he lacks in natural ability he makes up with good old-fashioned hard work and determination. When he was young he swam on the local rec swim team.

He was by far one of the slowest kids, always the last one in the last heat.

He had friends that were fast swimmers, always walking away with blue or red ribbons, zipping through the water.
Over the years, Zack decided he wanted to get faster. He would go to extra practices, ask the coaches for longer and harder work-outs. On weekends, he would work out in the pool with his dad and other studly swimmers. Nose to the grindstone. Finally after years of hard work, a little dose of testosterone and a growth spurt, Zack was one of the fastest kids on the team. When he was 13, he decided to swim across the span of the Golden Gate Bridge. All summer my husband, Zack and I swam in the frigid SF bay waters to train for his swim. And when the day arrived Zack zipped across that span nearly 2 miles in 43 minutes with grace and ease. It was a pleasure to watch. When Zack first played ping-pong it was a bit of a challenge as his eye hand coordination does not come naturally.

But he loved the game and wanted to improve. When we broke down and purchased a ping-pong table, we all played endless games.
His dad always beat him. For a while I could beat him.

Every afternoon, he'd turn the table into a single person backboard, Forrest Gump style, and he would practice endlessly.

After a few weeks, he was able to beat me fairly consistently.

After a few more weeks, he was able to take his Dad in a game here and there.
And when he needed to practice a spin or some fancy new move, it was back to Forrest Gump.
Pong, pong pong.
This is a kid with great determination and tenacity. After about 45 minutes of paddling Zack finally made it to the outside, where the waves break. He caught one wave and came it.
I walked up to him on the beach and said, "Wow, it looks like a mess out there.

Lot of work." Yeah, he said, "I've never been denied and I wasn't going to make this the first time.
I had to make it out and once I did, it just wasn't worth it.

So, I decided to come on in." "Good judgment, honey.

" He let that one slide, as we were alone on the beach.

That's Zack for you. It got me to thinking.
Initially when the Dad had said, "That kid is going to be successful," I had a momentary swelling of pride.

Yeah, check out my kid.
And then I thought about it.
What is success anyway? For me, I hope Zack is happy in life, that he has good friendships and relationships.

I hope he finds work that engages him.
I hope he gets to keep surfing if that is what he wants.
For me, success is not about making lots of money or driving a fancy car.

Yeah, Zack is a determined and tenacious kid and I hope it serves him well but I suspect success for him is not the same kind of success that that Dad was talking about.

So much of it is how we view the world and our place in it.

And for Zack, I hope success is feeling right with himself, feeling happy and content and of course, making it to the outside for the perfect wave