I am 45 years old and just retired from active duty after 26 years of service. I just started skateboarding again and it is so much freakin' fun to be shredding again.
I was born in El Paso Texas but was raised for most of my childhood in Ciudad Juarez Mexico. The only board I had was one my dad bought me for Christmas when I was 10 yrs old. Back then we didn't have all the cool skateparks and if you could find an empty pool you were in heaven, but that was so rare in Juarez. All we had was street skating and jumping off high sidewalks and ramps.
We never imagined skateboarding would reach the technical level it has today...it is just amazing.
I used to cross the border everyday to go to school in El Paso because my mom wanted to make sure I learned the language of the country I was born in. I had a hard time learning English because school was the only place I could practice, nobody in my house spoke a lick of English. I got tired of being laughed at in school so I knuckled down on my own and studied non stop for 2 years to learn English. I didn't even go out with my friends to play because I was studying all the time. Because I missed 2 years of my childhood just studying to learn the English language, when I finally came out to daylight everybody was really good at skateboarding. Even though I tried my best I never caught up, but I made myself a promise that one day I would learn to skate the right way and ride in real skateparks.
I have been skateboarding for the last six months and having a great time. Needless to say everybody I know thinks I am going through my mid-life crisis and they tell me I am crazy. But I am having a blast and all the kids at the parks have been very supportive.
I know at my age slams take a lot longer time to get over, and I can tell you I have taken some really good ones. I like to think that the hardness of concrete has been improved with technological advances since the days of my youth. But I know it's just my advanced aged body not being able to take a hit like I used to... reality can really hurt sometimes. But I am just trying to keep a promise I made to myself a long time ago.
And no matter what anybody thinks, I intend to keep shredding until I can't ride anymore. I am just having so much fun it is crazy.
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