Growing up can suck. As I break into my 20s & begin facing the endless bounds of responsibility that will soon face me for the remainder of my time here (re: taxes, politics), I realize that I'll never totally lose the little kid in me. Through my life so far, I've notice that I really enjoy sharing things that I love with the people that I love (thanks Mom!!!) Skateboarding is one of those things.
A has an angel of a little brother named Aric. Not only is Aric the sweetest, most loving boy in the entire world, he's pretty handsome too. Ever since I first met him, I always saw a little bit of myself in him. He's always so happy, smiling and laughing so hard. He loves making up little songs about thoughts he's having & recently took an appreciation for the drums (We're in a band together now, by the way). One day, he tried riding my skateboard down his driveway. From then on, I was sold.
We decided kind of on a whim to take Aric to the Skatepark of Tampa to show him how to skate & see if it was something he would be interested in taking up. My favorite thing about Aric is how much he loves a challenge. As soon as I gave him a board & started showing him how to ride it, he was hooked. He even used some of his Christmas money to buy his own board. I mean, look at that last photo. Dear god.
While it started as a slightly selfish attempt at watching the cutest small human not named Aisha Hatter ride a skateboard, it turned into this weird kind of experience where I really hoped it would be something he'd latch on to & love throughout his life. Skateboarding has given me such joy in my life, & I want the same thing for this little guy. Whether he keeps skating or finds another hobby that he likes, I just hope he stays as happy as he is every day that I see him. Do I sound like a grown up?
Love,
J
Check out a little video we put together of Aric's first day skateboarding below.
Finals week has been killing the both of us. While cramming for multiple straight days of exams, A & I have been itching to get out of the house & have some fun.
But thankfully, the Skatepark of Tampa schedules their annual Tampa Am contest right around the same time as USF's finals week. We happily took the opportunity to call up our friends on Friday night, drop our responsibilities & head out to the Tampa premiere of Nike SB's new video, SB Chronicles Vol. 2 at the beautiful Tampa Theatre downtown. After slaving through a long semester, it was so fun to get silly with our Tampa family.
I mean, look at that crew though. I'll take you from left to right. Steve Berens, Joanna Ritter, Toni Wieber, Andrea Landsdale, J & A, Josh Garno, David Kirk, Jack Ferreira, Hannah Milden, & BJ Townley. And what a handsome bunch at that.
The premiere kicked off one of the best nights of our lives. Aside from the video being insane, we all had fun stargazing at semi-famous skateboarders (especially Jack Ferreira) screaming out at the top of our lungs, & convincing almost-too-cool photographers to take a massive family photo of us. Plus, Kenny Anderson found a cozy seat directly in front of A during the video (sup Kenny!!!!).
Naturally, nearly two rows full of hyped college kids only meant the night was destined to continue. We all reconvened on campus for one of the deepest-crew late-night skate sessions in USF history. I mean, there were at least 11 of us terrorizing campus at 2 a.m.
I'm obligated to mention that at one point, we cruised past the library to find four campus police officers trying to wake a sleeping, shirtless man, "Todd", from a deep snooze on a bench outside. Homeboy would not move. They had to carry the dude out to an ambulance & everything. Somebody was partying a little too hard during finals week! Hope you're good, Dead Todd!
Thank god Aisha came through, because we captured most of the night for my homie video I'm putting together. But of course, I'm too excited & we decided to share footage from the night below.
I'm so thankful for everyone in that first picture. Not only do I have the love of my life by my side, but I'm surrounded by some of my favorite people in the entire world. Thanks everybody for coming out & hanging, last Friday was a night I'll remember when I'm way too old to skate anymore.
Love you all,
J
