We’re floating together in the brilliant morning light. I look over at my mom. In this moment she is the epitome of delight and serenity; a slight smile on her face as she gazes out into a spectacular horizon of ocean and sky. It’s just us, our surf boards and the Mexican Pacific; today, life is simple. I look down and revel at the clarity of the water. I catch a glimpse of my red toe nails, glowing up at me through the brilliant blue water. Below me colorful fish dart through a maze of white sand and reef.

“Here it comes!“ she says excitedly as she begins to turn around her long board. I spot the incoming set and a small surge of adrenaline floods my veins. A perfect little wave rolls in towards us.

“Paddle hard!” I yell, “team wave!” The power of the lovely wave catches up to us and picks us both up. We’re off and riding the wave together in opposite directions away from the peak, like a pair of synchronized surfers (perhaps we should start a new sport!). My board cruises diagonally across the wave just ahead of the breaking white water. I’m delighted at being able to practice making small turns; slicing through the glassy water. I am also able to walk around a bit on my board. It’s gonna be a while before my toes are on the nose, but what’s the rush?! I ride the wave until the water is dangerously shallow and then flop onto my back into the delightfully warm ocean.

My mom and I pride ourselves on being “hardcore small wave surfers” — two to three foot waves suit us just fine! We learned to surf together on the famous Punta de Mita coastline, just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Both of us agree that surfing is quite possibly the most difficult sport we’ve ever undertaken. As beginners we struggled with bruises and sore muscles in strange places. We battled together to get our surf boards beyond the breaking waves, coughed up a lot of salt water and continually found ourselves in the way of other surfers. However, over the last few years, we’ve learned, gotten tougher and discovered some beautiful, mellow and uncrowned surf breaks along this stretch of coastline that we have come to call home.

I paddle back out to meet my mom and wait for another set. We wear the same ridiculous grin. This morning we have the break to ourselves. Here we can surf as gracefully or sloppily as we like and it doesn’t matter; we’re loving it. For us, surfing just doesn’t get better than this.

“You know,” she says, “when I was your age, I never would have imagined that in 30 years I would be surfing in Mexico with my daughter and running an Eco-lodge.” I ponder her words for a moment and realize what an incredible journey her life has been. My mother, Judi, was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. For the first twenty years of her life she knew nothing but Alaska. Today she finds herself far from snow and mountains, living and running a business with her family in the jungle on the Mexican Pacific coastline. My mom is walking evidence of the crazy twists and turns of life. I’m grateful that her adventurous lifestyle has trickled down to me.

We ride a few more waves before feeling the need to return to our jungle lodge and get back to work preparing for our next group of guests. We leave the beach and wander along a meandering jungle trail back to our Jeep Wrangler . We walk together in silence. Our hair is wild with salt and sand, we smell like surf wax and both of us are still grinning and glowing with surfing bliss. I feel revitalized. My mind replays the beautiful little waves we just rode together. I suddenly wonder where the twists and turns of life will take me. I decide that if I have my way, in another 30 years my mom and I will still be together, surfing the same perfect little waves.

TAMARA JACOBI is the co-owner, hostess, website-designer, bookings manager, and expedition guide for Tailwind Outdoor, a family-owned eco-lodge and adventure tour company in San Pancho, Mexico. She is a lifelong athlete whose accomplishments include completion of 2 marathons, sea kayaking 850 miles down the Baja's Sea of Cortez, mountain biking 2000 miles of the USA's continental divide trail, mountaineering up Pico de Orizaba's 18,700 feet, and more. She is also a passionate trail runner and practicing yogini... {more »}

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