ISLE Share Your StoryISLE Share Your Story

ISLE Share Your Story

Melanie Bartenstein: For the Love of Surfing

Turnagain Arm - Anchorage, AK
melanieb_24

For the Love of Surfing

Instagram Handle: melanieb_24

Location: Turnagain Arm - Anchorage, AK

STORY:

Where do I even begin? Well, letā€™s start with this: if you donā€™t know what a bore tide is, go look up some videos, then come right back here to finish reading this.

Okay, now that you know what a bore tide is, Iā€™ll share my story.

I am a born and raised Alaskan, and I grew up doing all of your typical adventurous Alaskan things. The one thing I always dreamed of trying was surfing. I read the book ā€œSoul Surferā€ like 48 times when I was a kid. I LOVED Bethany Hamilton. I wanted to be a surfer just like her. BUT, unfortunately, surfing isnā€™t much of a thing up here in the last frontier ā€¦ so I just kept on dreaming. Until one day when I was 20 years old and met this wild but wonderful dude. He asked me to go surf the bore tide with him and thatā€™s when I knew heā€™d be fun. Well, the first time he took me surfing (remember I had never surfed before in my entire life) I caught the wave AND rode it for about 10-15 minutes. If you looked up what a bore tide is youā€™ll get that this is a big deal cause you only get ONE chance to catch the wave. Once itā€™s gone, itā€™s gone. And once you fall off, youā€™re done. And I did it first try ā€” for comparison, it takes most people a half a dozen tries to catch their first bore tide. When we got back to the car I couldnā€™t stop screaming with excitement. It was the best feeling I think I had ever had. I knew in that moment I was gonna marry this wonderful guy who took me surfing, and did I mention Iā€™d only known him two weeks? Well let me tell ya something, the next time we surfed, he yelled at me as we are riding the wave ā€œI love you!ā€ Now how many people can say the love of their life said those three words for the first time while RIDING A WAVE!? Yeah, thatā€™s what I thought. And to make it even better, it wasnā€™t all just a dream. That was three years ago and here we are now. Engaged and getting married this summer. Yes, our wedding guest book is a surf board for our friends to sign. And yes we still surf every chance we get. I fulfilled my childhood dream and got the guy. Life is good.

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