Today is the birthday of my youngest daughter, Bryna, an artist, mother and surfer, among many other talents and skills, not the least of which is her amazing fluency in Spanish. I believe she is more comfortable speaking espanol than ingles but I am only guessing.
Bryna came into this world with a red face and the umbilical cord from her mother wrapped around her neck. The doctor calmly and deftly unwrapped the chord and presented Barbara and me with our baby. She had black hair to go with her red body and she looked like a little papoose.
Little did I know that the cord around her neck was a sign of things to come, at least from this parent's perspective. Hers was a natural child birth, which I am sure she appreciates today.
Bryna is one of the few people I know who really, honestly "walks the walk." She has always followed through and done what she claimed. Her artistic talent was obvious from an early age when she would present drawings featuring detail and perspective. She won awards for her art. She took up surfing at an early age and before long she was in the lineup at The Lane, the most prominent break in "Surf City" Santa Cruz where she earned her surf cred.
She suffered a surfing accident on a small day looking for waves at Its Beach, a notorious beach break that can throw down a body and crush a neck in a nano second, and appear calm and tranquil a minute later. Her surfboard's fin sliced into her thigh and she was immediately directing others to call emergency 911. That night her mother was beside herself at the hospital waiting for the surgeon to sew Bryna's leg back together, following heavy cleansing irrigation of the fist-sized open wound.
As with any true surfer, she was back in the water as soon as she was able.
Immediately following high school graduation, her love of surf and adventure took her and her surfer girl friends to Central America and points south including Peru and Australia looking for waves. Her experiences, some near-death, at surf breaks, in jungles and on islands may be the grist of a great adventure book someday. Dengue Fever and malaria could not stop her.
I am in awe of this woman, my child, once that little papoose. She is an accomplished artist and fabulous mother of our granddaughter Viva. I salute you, my little brave one. Happy birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment