Brightness in the eyes
Skateboarding, filming and covid-19.
Today I went on recording some skate clips after God knows how much time. And I noticed a different bright in people's eyes.
I don't know if I didn't notice the pleasure all of us feel and share during sessions, and we transmit this satisfaction through the look and each smile, push, fall, ollie up the sidewalk and trick, or if indeed this brightness is something new, arising after so much time isolated, recluse and, at times, depressive.
The sensation of being in the streets again, shredding, recording and, mainly, having fun, seems to be new. Skateboarding is giving yourself the right to be forever a kid to some extent. Allowing yourself to fall, to make mistakes, to get bruises all over the body because you got stuck at a stupid tiny rock. Fuck you, tiny rock. Get up laughing, checking if everything is fine and thinking about the wonderful upcoming shower. I'll only go back home when I land this one, fuck it.
And you land it.
Smashed body, all fucked up, happy as hell, with a smile from one ear to the other because you jumped over something while a object with four wheels flip under you. It could be the description of a cute and idiot toy. However, it's something so big, fucking awesome, so skateboarding.
Sometimes the clip sucks. Sometimes the lights are just perfect and you get THE clip, though. Curiously, the major objective is to enjoy the moment, and not the filming itself, as we think about sometimes, already feeling the anxiety even before leaving home. I'll land this here, that there, and if the sesh is flowing I'll try one more. And when the time comes, it's nothing like you imagined. It ends up being a lot more exciting than one could ever imagine.
And there are those moments when it sucks. Frustrating. You try, try, try and nothing. I always try to convince myself that it occurs because I wasn't enjoying the moment, or because I had too much stuff going on in my had and I simply wasn't there with body and soul.
Whatever. The text was about brightness in the eyes and smiling with them, a new phenomenon for those who don't observe.
As it seems, I wasnt.
You can read the original version in Portuguese here, at Medium.