Another Way to Honor our Joe…

I have met several women…grieving moms…since our Joe died 4 years ago. It is easier to be with them because they understand the profound loss of losing a child. There is no need for the “I’m fine” mask to make them feel more comfortable. There is no preamble about the loss. Many of these ladies have become part of my tribe. I can ugly cry in front of them without being embarrassed and that is a huge thing. Huge. One of my fellow grieving mothers talked about this man named Dan in New England who creates these surfboards. He lost his dad and wanted to honor his memory by giving him one last ride on a wave. In 2022, the idea grew from there to honor other people’s loved ones. Your loved ones’ names are written on the surf boards and are taken to different parts of the world to catch ‘one last wave.’ The “One Last Wave Project” mission is “to use the healing power of the ocean to help grieving families, etching loved ones names onto hand-crafted surfboards and paddling them into the ocean to catch a symboliclast wave.” It doesn’t cost anything to do this, but Dan does sell memorabilia for each board and generic company shirts, etc. Dan goes through all the emails personally and decides if he’ll put your loved one’s name on a board. I emailed him and told him about my Joe. I told him that Joe learned to surf as a young teenager in Norway of all places, while I stood on the beach in a parka taking photos of him in the snow. I told him that Joe would come out of the North Sea in his heavy wet suit with blue lips from the cold…but that he absolutely loved surfing. I told Dan this would be such a big honor for us to have his name on one of his surf boards. Dan sent me a reply back within a few days and said our Joe would have his name written on Board #11, along with my friend’s son and daughter (the one who told me about this in the first place), whom she also lost in a tragic car accident two months after my Joe died. She also lost a Joe…and an Ali. Our children will ride the waves together on Board #11 when it is ready. I will post more when I get that information. Board #10 just was finished and had 2606 names on it…handwritten. The board will launch for its inaugural ride on May 9th at 0900 at Bluff Ave at Palos Verdes Estates, California. Dan has even taken boards to other countries to ride them there. The families are invited to go watch but it is always recorded in case they can’t make it. Check out his website: http://www.onelastwaveproject.com He is also on Facebook under the same name. It is a powerful and wonderful ministry he is doing. Our Joe would have loved this idea. He loved surfing and being in the ocean. This felt really right for us. I will update you when Board #11 is ready for launch and tell you where and when. It will be a few months at least. However, I look forward to learning and sharing all about it! If you look at the bottom photo from Dan’s website, those are all the names on Board #10. Check out the website. There are several videos explaining how things work. We’ll keep you updated!