It all started when my dad asked me, “Do you want to go to a new beach? It’s called North Shore. It’s where are all of the professionals go to surf.”

I replied, “I would love to!”

Although in my head I was thinking, I can’t do this, because North Shore had enormous waves that scare children just like me. I walked my way into my room and put my swimsuit on. Then made my way pass all of my flip-flops to grab my surfboard. I was super excited to put my feet into the warm cozy sand. Overall, I had no idea what I would learn that day.

We arrived at North Shore in our windowless jeep and took our surfboards out of the car. Looked at the warm, wild waves with many emotions.

I then heard my father close and lock the door of the car and questioned, “What do you think? Do you think you can do this?”

I looked back and replied, “Yes, even though I’m super nervous, but I’m also super excited, because I will be proud of myself if I catch one of the waves.”

We crossed the calm Hawaiian road and walked down the rocky mountain under the peaceful palm trees. Suddenly I looked up to look at the palmtrees and my solid surfboard slipped out of my hand. My surfboard’s weight made me fall, but I did not just fall, I tripped on a pointy hard rock and stubbed all of my toes. My dad stopped and looked back surprised. He ran with his surfboard to come help me. I looked up and said, “Oh, I’m fine, I just stubbed my toes.”

“You didn’t just stub your toes, your big toe is injured badly. Do you want to got to the hospital?” asked my dad.

“Sure,” I answered as my dad was helping me get up.

We ended up in a podiatrist’s office to have an appointment that day. I sat there on the chair waiting and waiting. I looked at my feet and realized something. I realized that I forgot my shoes.

Then a few seconds later, a person called my name, “Maile?” I got up slowly and walked to her, my dad followed.

We entered a room where there was a huge chair that looked like a small bed. I got up on the chair and sat down.

My doctor came in to look at my big toe and said, “Oh! Did you stub your toe?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Pretty soon you will soon have an ingrown toenail and it will always be there, unless we do a procedure so you will never have an ingrown toenail.” informed my doctor.

I looked back at my dad and he stated, “It is your decision if you want to get it fixed.”

I looked back at my doctor and replied, “I think it is better to do it now than later.”

“Ok, I will be back with the supplies I need.” the doctor replied. He came back with a tiny shot and some tools, and said, “To take care of this I will need to inject this shot into your toe so you’ll be numbed during the procedure, then I will remove the bed of your toe so you will never have an ingrown toenail on that toe.”

In conclusion, I learned that you may forget about the important things while you are having an exciting moment. From this lesson, I learned to not forget my flip-flops even though I’m at the beach where it has warm cozy sand. Still from that day on, I have scars on each of my toes, especially the big toe, reminding me to cover my feet.