Another long day inside the office while looking outside to what was certainly a beautiful day, and it was finally closing time.  Eleven hours passed in the blink of an eye while my surfboard laden truck patiently waited outside for me to jump in and head to the beach.  This is where my truck and I are truly in our element.  My whole day washes away the minute I open the door at the beach.  Today, I looked out at what appeared to be a slightly confused, and maybe a tad angry, ocean.  The waves were big and coming in at different angles crashing into each other then onto the sand.  I spotted the rip current that would carry me out to the line up so I hastily put my wet suit on and headed for the water. I got to the waters edge and attached my leash and stretched a little to warm up before diving into the crazy shore break. I chased the receding water and slid into the surf on my board and with the help of the rip current was soon out where I needed to be.  I was also soon faced with a reality check, the surf was a lot bigger than it looked from shore.  I was on my eleven foot long board and twice I had to paddle two strokes up the face of a wave at least thirteen feet or bigger.  Kenny Rogers said it best in the song “The Gambler.”  “You got to know when to hold em and know when to fold em.”  I made a fast decision to fold em, catch a wave and head for the beach.  If this were a Saturday morning and I was fresh it would be a different story than being fresh from a long day at work.  Knowing when to say when is so important in so many parts of life, especially when dealing with the ocean.