My First Real Wave

I finally went to Sunset Beach today after being encouraged by several people and it was amazing! Low tide was at around 2p so Wendy and I got there around 1p and paddled out. It is so peaceful just sitting outside of the break and there's this amazing sense of community as you look around at all the other surfers. I had already decided that my goal for today was to stand up and ride a wave just once since I had yet to do so. I had been out in the water for about 45 minutes or so just getting the rhythm of the waves and occasionally trying to catch one with no success when a stranger paddled by and told me to try catching one a little closer in. Just as he was paddling away, I saw an incoming wave and paddled a little closer into the shoreline, lined myself up for the wave, and paddled. Before I knew it, the wave was coming up behind me and then it happened-I caught it, felt the energy of my board cruising along, and pushed up! I half expected to fall pretty quickly but, to my surprise, I didn't. I rode the wave in until I could see some rocks that I preferred not to surf into and jumped off my board into the water. The feeling was so incredible that if I was on land I definitely would have been jumping up and down. Instead, I paddled back out, beaming, ready to do it again. I caught three more waves and rode them in standing up over the course of the next hour and a half and I could not have asked for anymore. If I wasn't hooked before, I definitely am now.