I was in my early twenties, I had a son and a new little house with a fenced in yard. I was living in a small town with a fairly small group of local surfers. Most of our friends Mark had known while at, what was then very small, UNCW.
Wilmington College became a senior college on July 1, 1963, when the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation allowing the school to offer a four-year curriculum and award bachelor's degrees. Six years later, July 1, 1969, the name of the school was changed to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, making UNCW the fifth campus of the University of North Carolina system. On August 22, 1977, UNCW was authorized to offer its first graduate programs at the master's level.[3]Currently, UNCW has more than 12,000 students enrolled and nearly 500 full-time faculty members. The school offers seventy-three bachelor's degrees, thirty master's degrees, and two doctoral degrees.[4] (Wikipedia)
Mark had graduated in 1978.
Mark had graduated in 1978.
Mark and I surfed Columbia St. the most and became Wrightsville Beach locals. We also surfed regularly Crystal Pier and Shell Island (before there was a condo there that's now falling slowly into the sea). We hung out with other ESA surfers who lived in Wilmington and once attended a funeral for a friend who died of heart failure. He was two years older then I was. We paddled out at Columbia St. and spread his ashes. It was very sad. He left behind a wife and two young kids.
Every-now-and-then Mark and I would surf Carolina Beach, and if we wanted to make a day of it we'd go all the way down to Kure Beach and surf the Cove. Most of Pleasure Island was untouched by any bulldozer at this time and I truly loved going there. The CB locals were a little rough around the edges but they gave me waves and I respected their breaks. One big problem for them was the determination to keep spots quiet. The university was growing and students were not a welcomed sight for the Carolina Beach surfers. Paddling out at particular breaks was a lot like paddling out at Velzy Land. One had to watch out for one's parked car too. During contests the clash between WB Boys and CB Boyz was very clear.
As I stated before there were no real kneeboarders around, so our local ESA chapter only had one division for Kneeboarding, it was open to anyone. For the most part, I competed against guys who stood up. They only kneeboarded for higher point which gave then championship slots in Hatteras. There was only one guy I could not beat...Bill Curry.
When I'd surf in the Championships at Cape Hatteras there would be a different division for women. They didn't kneeboard either and it was an easy victory, especially when the waves were good. I ended up East Coast Champion for seven years. During this time also I began competing in Bodyboarding and won at that too. The girls were regular bodyboarders so these trophies were harder to earn and more of an accomplishment. One year I made Iron Woman and got real excited. About three weeks later I received a box from O'Neill full of wetsuits, shirts, and a big travel bag, all with Eastern Surfing Association All-Star Team screened neon orange on them. Everything was neon in the 80s. The fullsuit was neon yellow! My brother once told me it screamed "TAKE OFF ON ME!"
I also got an invitation to the ISA championships in Hawaii but it was for bodyboarding and I knew the girls were going to kick my ass, so I just let it go. By now kneeboarding was becoming unheard of, in fact, by the time I retired from the ESA kneeboarding heats were disappearing all together. To date, out in the line up, I get kids asking me how I stand up with flippers. People think I ride a fiberglass bodyboard...until I take off....then they don't know what to think.
My last EAS Championship. I told myself if I won I'd retire. I ended this phase of my life on top, and was stoked.
When my son Shaun was old enough to be at a sitters I got a job at Surf City Surf Shop in Wrightsville Beach. I liked being around the surf industry. I met pros and received free stuff from Reps. Retail came easy for me too. I became so complexity involved with the east coast surfing scene that the friends I made would last twenty years. Physically I was in excellent shape. I was exercising seven days a week at home doing aerobic cassette tapes and I used Shaun for weights while doing leg lifts and curls. He would also sit on my back while I did pushups. Mark and I also went to the gym where I swam the pool and did some machines. I was playing softball for two recreational teams, one co-ed, the other women. Later I'd add the church league to the list.
At one point I modeled in a fashion show for a hair saloon, which was fun, but, I never thought I was that pretty.
Mark had begun selling cars for Everhart Nissan on Market St. which was nice because we were able to sell our Pinto and get a Nissan. (This would be the start of my climb up to a BMW 645:) Between the two of us we were bringing in enough money to sell our trailer and purchase a house. It was a typical three bedroom two bath on the outskirts of Wilmington. Mark immediately started on a shaping room in the back yard.
During this time too I was doing a lot of soul searching. I was trying to define words like commitment, faith, predestination, freewill, and love. I'd not done drugs since that day at the NSCF and was now working my way through the Bible a bartender had given to me when I quit Chuck's Steakhouse. The one my Mom got me had fallen apart.
Mark had come from a similar drug related back ground and was in contact with the old friends he had grown up with. There were a couple of times I caught him smoking weed and had gotten very upset. We had a son and I didn't want drugs in the house. This little breach of trust between my husband and I drove me closer to God. I realized my life was not for "me" anymore it was for "us." (Us being another word needing definition.)
Over the years Mark would never completely give up drugs but they weren't a constant at this point, so we carried on by becoming members of a church.
The first thing I noticed when we were looking for a church was how many there were. The South has four on every corner! I'd never seen such a variety of denominations too. All I knew was I wasn't a Catholic, and all Mark knew was he wasn't a Baptist...the other denominations were a question. After shopping around we finally settled on a big money Presbyterian Church. They had a lot of young up-and-coming parents there which were a form of support. Mark and I would soon become a novelty with all the surfing we did. I began teaching 6th grade Sunday School (which I loved doing) and both Mark and I would take the youth group to the beach for surf outings and to the mountains for ski trips. Mark had started snowboarding at this time. I would follow a couple of years later.
These were the good days, however, the church was teaching me much about the differences between God and man.
Something odd that happened....
We had a German Shepherd named Duchess. Mark and I had planed a trip to Sebastian Inlet Florida during the summer and had asked some friends to take care of Duchess while we were away. She was pregnant but we were told by the vet that she would give birth weeks after we got back. When the day came for us to leave our friends re-niged on their offer and we had to take our heavy-with-puppies dog with us. We were camping off of A1A near Sebastian Inlet when we heard Duchess whining. She had given birth to twelve puppies in a box in the back of our Nissan truck over night. It was cute but sad. There were way too many puppies for Duchess to feed, so by the time we got home four of the puppies had died.
Sebastian Inlet Camp Ground
After we gave the puppies away Duchess got very protective of Shaun and one day bit a Sheriff. We had to give her away. I was in tears because for years she was a constant companion. We gave Duchess to an old black lady that lived near the Neuse River, on the same street as Mark's little brother. The lady said she wanted a dog that would look out for her.
Shaun and a couple of Duchess' puppies.
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