youmightfindyourself:

Taken from the last page of “Obama’s Way”
Van­i­ty Fair, Octo­ber 2012
By Michael Lewis

Aboard Air Force One, I’d asked him what he would do if grant­ed a day when no one knew who he was and he could do what­ev­er he pleased. How would he spend it? He didn’t even have to think about it: When I lived in Hawaii, I’d take a drive from Waiki­ki to where my grand­moth­er lived—up along the coast head­ing east, and it takes you past Hanau­ma Bay. When my moth­er was preg­nant with me she’d take a walk along the beach… . You park your car. If the waves are good you sit and watch and pon­der it for a while. You grab your car keys in the towel. And you jump in the ocean. And you have to wait until there is a break in the waves… . And you put on a fin—and you only have one fin—and if you catch the right wave you cut left because left is west… . Then you cut down into the tube there. You might see the crest rolling and you might see the sun glit­ter­ing. You might see a sea tur­tle in pro­file, side­ways, like a hiero­glyph in the water… . And you spend an hour out there. And if you’ve had a good day you’ve caught six or seven good waves and six or seven not so good waves. And you go back to your car. With a soda or a can of juice. And you sit. And you can watch the sun go down …