Page 85 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART ONE
Some Final Thoughts
The summer of 2023 represents 48 continuous years of me riding a skate- board. It also happens to be the first year that the Olympics will have skateboarding as an event. While there were hints of doing this back in skateboarding’s first wave during the 1960s, it does seem a bit surreal to see it actually happening. Then again, having been through a number of waves in the popularity of skateboarding, the Olympics are not going to have any im- pact on my life. With respect to skateboarding, the only thing that has an im- pact on my life are the people who I have met and continue to meet because I am a skateboarder.
Earlier on in this book, I mentioned that 25 years ago I came up with the idea of calling my book on skateboarding’s history “The Endless Wave.” The pub- lisher and I eventually decided to call it “The Concrete Wave.” In some strange way, I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to have my cake and eat it too. But the last few years of the magazine were not easy. Getting writer’s block was truly a diabolical experience. It really did feel like something in me had died. I still loved skateboarding, but I felt I had come to a crossroads in trying to figure out how to move forward.
After much soul-searching, I realized that it was time for me to change. There were many days of feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. I am glad I made the decision I made. It was necessary to cut my ties with
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