Oh how I used to love Wave Jumping. That feeling of waiting until the hulking behemoths of water, salty or not, circled in, and then simply leaping over it is a feeling I will treasure for as long as I can remember it. But that feeling shall never be the same, never that beautiful clarity of innocence. It shall never be the same due to That. That is something that I still dream about on those cold, wet nights. That is why for the year after That happened, I was scared to even go near waves, small or large. That is the story that I will share with you now. Oh how I still recall it with perfect, crystal-clear clarity after all these years. My family had decided to take a trip to the great state of Maryland, to see the sights and sounds that were on showcase there. Going with us were my cousin’s family, who were arriving separately. The car trip was nice, if a bit long and tedious. The hotel was grand, big and beautiful and quite magnificent. I was astonished and excited. Where we usually went on vacation, Cape Cod, wasn’t exactly the home of large waves. In fact, the waves in Cape Cod were usually small, except for one time. But I’m getting a little too carried away, as that is a story for another time. As I was saying before, Maryland was different. In Maryland, there were waves much bigger than the ones in Cape Cod, and I was very much looking forward to sampling them. The beach was quite interesting. The “splash zone,”where the waves hit, was so large that all the people there had their stuff right near the edge of the beach, clustered together like a group of animals in a zoo cage that was unfortunately too small. We luckily managed to find a spot, even if it was a bit too close to the ocean for my mother’s liking. But it seemed to be fine. Wait! I forgot. I haven’t explained the most important part yet. The waves. Oh… the waves. They were humongous. If the waves in the Cape were behemoths, these were planetoids, crashing against the beach again and again, taking more and more back with them every time. “Perfect!” I remember myself exclaiming. As I usually did when we got to the Cape, as soon I had sunscreen on, I dashed as fast as I could into the ocean. And what an interesting dash it was. I remember almost getting flattened by the first wave, which was converging on the beach. I dived right into it, eyes closed. Oh, this was exactly what I had dreamed of. I continued this way, making my way through wave after wave, eventually losing track of how many I went through. I didn’t look back; I knew that I could make it back to shore easily enough. That was my mistake. As it was, all the waves were the same size. This far out, I couldn’t stand anymore for a while. I took a second to look back, and realized that I was much further away than I should have been. I didn’t notice the approaching wave until it was too late.