It’s been a week since my dad’s funeral; I like to go down to his surf shop by the beach and feel like he’s still there with me. As my son and I walked back from the beach across from our house, we stopped to get the mail. The great blue waves were crashing behind me, the smell of salt water still strong. “Hi guys! How was the beach?” I heard my wife calling once my son, and I got home.
“It was so cool we saw a dolphin!!” my son, Nick exclaimed.
“Oh wow! That is really cool Nick, how about you tell me more after you go wash up.” My wife said.

I went and sat down at the dinner table. “Coupon, newspaper, newspaper, wrong address…” I muttered to myself while going through the mail. “Bank? What’s this?” I opened the envelope. “Oh my god! No, no! No. It can’t. No! This can’t be happening,” I nearly cried in frustration.
“Honey what’s going on?” my wife asked worried.
“The bank…”
“The bank what?” she asked.
“It-it says the bank is t-taking away my dad’s shop.” I said full of grief.
“How could that be? It’s only been a week…” she said angry and confused. “Honey I’m so sorry…” her voice was breaking.
“We have to stop them.” I said suddenly more determined than upset.

The next day we started brainstorming on how to raise $5,000 to save dad’s shop.
“We could have a bake sale,” my son suggested.
“Or a car wash?” my wife said.
“I don’t know guys… uh I’m just going to go for a walk, see you in a little bit.” I walked out the door. I walked on the beach for a while; it hurt to see the ‘for sale’ sign on my dad’s store. As I was walking I tried to think of ways to save the shop, when I saw a flyer for a big surf competition. I hurried home to show my family.

“I think I have a solution!” I said cheerfully and showed them the flyer.
“Honey this looks dangerous.” My wife said sounding concerned.
“Don’t worry I didn’t want to enter, I thought we could go over there sell some of the surf equipment that’s left in the store so we can raise money to reopen it.” I tried to reassure her but as my son looked through the flyer he got an idea of his own. “Mom, Dad look!! Here it says that they have an event for my age group too!” he said. “Do you guys know what this means?” he asked impatiently. “I could enter, and the prize is $5,500 since it’s such a big competition” He said really fast and excited. “And second place gets prize money too, and I think there’s a gift card for third.” He added
“Look Nick I know you love to surf but I just don’t think it’s safe, and especially to jump into a big competition like this right away…” my wife said.
“But mom, I really want to do this.” He whined. “This could help me become a professional surfer, or get some kind of scholarship for a college…” He continued.
“Ok fine, but you’re going to have to practice. You need to be able to handle the waves so you don’t get hurt. And I’m agreeing to this for your future, do you understand?” My wife asked Nick.
“Yes! Ok mom thank you I will.” He said, “Dad lets go get my board.” He pulled me out the door.

For a week Nick practiced hard, all day and every day. I cleaned up the shop, and my wife started planning what beverages we could sell. Soon it was just a couple days until the competition.

“Okay champ you ready?” I asked Nick.
“I was born ready.” The words sounded confident but he seemed nervous.
“You’ll do great buddy.” I said smiling at him.
My wife came bringing the snacks, my son had his board and a bag with his surf stuff, and I was going to get the things from the shop on the way there. “Alright did we get everything?” my wife asked looking around the house to see if she could think of anything else. “Yeah I think that’s everything. Let’s go.” I said.

We drove over to the beach parking, got all our things and headed for the sign in desk. “Hi I’m Nick, I’m here for the surf competition for boys 14 and under.”
“Ok Nick you are checked in, your event is in an hour. Good luck!” the guy behind the desk said. Once we were set up on the sand to sell some things, my wife went off to go talk to people about buying something.

“10 minutes until start of boys 14 and under.” We heard the guy say into a megaphone. “Ok well good luck buddy.” I said to my son before he walked over to the water. We sold a few things, and then watched Nick. “He’s doing so well.” My wife couldn’t help but smile. “5 minutes left.” We heard the guy talk in the megaphone again. “He might have enough time to catch one more wave.” I said. I have to admit I was quite nervous at that point too.
“He got it! He got the last wave!” my wife screamed. The surfers started paddling out of the clear blue water. As we walked over to him I felt the warm sand under my bare feet, and smelled the salt and was completely calm for a while. “Good job son.” I was so proud of him. “Aw honey you did so well, I couldn’t be more proud of you!” my wife was beaming. But soon that sense of calmness went away as they were about to say the results, I felt nervous for my son I didn’t care about the shop anymore I just wanted him to succeed.

“In third place we have Andrew R.” they announced, I could tell that my son and wife were nervous too. “And in second place… Tommy S.” we held each other’s hands tightly this was the last place they would say. “Please, please, please.” I could here Nick whispering to himself. “And last, but defiantly not least…” I held my breath. “-Nick B.”
“That’s you!” my wife and I exclaimed.
“What?” Nick was so shocked and confused.
“Go on up there” I gave him a slight nudge. He went up and got his prize.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.” My wife said amazed by our son.

We were able to save dad’s shop, get some new gear and have a little extra for Nick. He loved the shop and came in to help out as much as he could. “One day it’ll be his shop” I thought to myself and smiled.