Growing up, I would say I was a mixture of a girly girl and a tomboy, if that's even possible. I started snowboarding at an early age and quickly picked it up. By the age of 13, I was easily beating all the boys down the mountain. I easily acquired the balance to snowboard and from there I thought that I should maybe try out something new as well. That is when I first tried surfing.

This definitely took me a little longer to get the hang of. But eventually I was standing up and having a great time.

The thing that I really liked about surfing and snowboarding is that it was an easy way for me to bond with my brother. It was something we could do together. My brother's best friend, Harry, and I also bonded through these opportunities.

Two summers ago, my brother went to boy scout camp, so Harry and I decided to take a day to go down to Belmar, New Jersey to go surfing for the day. We packed up the car, grabbed some breakfast, grabbed our boards, and were ready to go.

Once we got down there, we ran to the beach to check out the waves. They were huge. Not necessarily the good kind of huge because it was very rough and breaking very far out. This makes it harder to get out to where the waves are breaking.

The early bird sure does catch the worm as well. We were the first ones on the beach, no lifeguards, no other surfers, no people, just us and our boards.

We went back to the car to grab our boards. When I grabbed mine I realized that I totally forgot to grab the leash for my board. The leash is what connects my ankle to my board so that I don't lose my board if I fall.

We dropped our stuff on the beach and went right out into the water. Getting out there was a breeze which was surprising for how rough it was. Once we finally got out past the breakers, we sat up on our boards and waited for a wave to come. This is a very surreal and relaxing feeling.

Until you make a mistake. I made a mistake.

I took my eyes off the horizon for a split second to look in towards to shore. The second I turned around, I saw a six foot wave about to crash down on me.

The next thing I knew, I was tumbling under water with no idea where my board was.

I finally found my way to the surface and took a huge gulp of air. Since I was out so far, I could not touch the bottom, so at this point, it was all strength to get me in to shore. I was hoping Harry had noticed I was missing but he was no where to be found.

So, I did the only thing I knew how to do in that situation, I swam. This is the moment where I want to thank my mom for taking me to swimming lessons every summer as a kid, because if not for that, I would be dead right now.

I gathered up all the strength I could muster, and I swam.

Waves kept crashing over me and I was constantly losing control. The taste of salt water was very prominent in my mouth because I had swallowed so much, but I kept going. At this point, my mind was blank. It was as if I blacked out. I cannot remember any thoughts in my head from this point on.

I then was able to look towards the shore to see where I was, and then I was faced with another obstacle. I was fast approaching a pile of rocks. I knew I would hit them, it was inevitable, I just had to make sure I did not hit my head or hurt myself. Luckily, I was able to get a good grip on the rock. I stood up on it and suddenly felt a searing pain in my knee as my foot fell into a crack. I knew I could not worry about that now though, I needed to get to shore.

Luckily, the rest of the way in was easy.

As soon as I touched the sand, the biggest feeling of relief came across me.

I saw my board on the coastline, picked it up, and went to lay down. It was then I started to process everything that had just happened.

My knee was bleeding and my entire leg was scraped up. My knee was in so much pain and I was very worried about a torn ligament. I also felt sick to my stomach, all of the salt water I had swallowed did not sit well apparently. In the moment though, I didn't care. That was all minor compared to what could have happened. I could have drowned. I could have been taken away by the extremely strong rip current. I could have died.

But I didn't and I am so thankful for that everyday.

Luckily, nothing was torn or broken, just a few scrapes that soon healed. I cannot believe how fortunate I was in this situation. When Harry came in and I explained what happened all he said was, "Dude I thought you just caught a gnarly wave!" So that explains why he did not come to my rescue.

The lesson is to always be careful when you're out in the ocean. It truly has a mind of its own and can be very dangerous. I got lucky, some do not.

I have been back out surfing since, but let's just say I never forget my leash.