Day One: One, Pop. Two, Flick. Three, Land. These words, repeating in my mind like a never ending metronome. My face, covered with sweat, concentration formed. Only the sound of faraway birds, and the constant stream of cars, rolling along on the paved road perpendicular to my driveway, the snappy, and constant Pop! Of my skateboard, echoing through my simple, gray garage, were the only sounds that filled my ears. But all of these things were irrelevant. This was not easy, no doubt about it, some people may call the trick ‘Hard’, and the 7.5 plywood of my Skateboard deck did agree. It was beaten; bruised from all of my fail attempts, and every time that I don’t complete it, it grows worse. It is telling me to stop, but I don’t want to. I must apologize, and keep on. I might not land it today, but hopefully soon. With miniscule wood chips hidden among the garage floor, and the night going to a new, deeper shade of black, the sun setting, opposite from the beach that my house lies near, I call it a day. I might not land it today, but soon enough, I will have it completed.

Day Four: One, two, three, four days. It won’t stop. I wish I could just land this, just this once, and keep it constant. I have been able to land a couple, but barely. I need my feet to be completely on the Skateboard, and being able to do it consistently, even while rolling. That’s the true definition of learning a trick, at least in my book. Being able to complete it while rolling along, no matter where it is, consistently. The snap of the Skateboard’s tail kept hitting the ground, it became a song in my head. I was beginning to become annoyed. It was like a war between myself and my skateboard, physically. But this one was special; there was something mental about it.

Day Nine: I finally landed it, standing still. I still have not overcome my mental state, however. I am close. I can land one foot while rolling, consistently.

Day Eleven: I’ve done it! I can now finally roll and correctly land with both feet on the deck. I feel like I have traveled on the underground railroad, and have finally escaped the Nazi rule. I was free! An overwhelming joy continued to embrace me.

Epilogue:  I’ve done it. I walked outside of my garage, looked into the sky, and just looked there for a while. After a long time, I finally came back to reality by a text message to my phone that read: “Want to skate?” – Drew. I picked up the silver device, and replied: “Sure,” I went on, “And guess what else I learned today?”