Tyler was 15 for a few more months and was working for the local surf and skate shop, EOS. He worked all day renting out kayaks and paddleboards to locals and tourists that stayed at Blue Harbor, our excuse of a resort and spa on Lake Michigan. Tyler stood tall at about six feet tall barefoot. His sandy brown hair always fell in his eyes, because he was planning to grow it out long. He had a sharp point to his smile and his long, horizontal hazel eyes squished closed when he smiled. His nose was slightly too big for his face, and teenage acne filled the surface. His skin was very, very tan until he took his shirt off to get into the water, at which point his skin gave the illusion of a white undershirt. People often said my brother and I look very similar, but it never stopped me from picking on him, I mean, he is my little brother. He wore a button-up, tan Hawaiian shirt with large, orange hibiscus flowers and swim shorts. He held his black ukulele up as I finally reached the pier.

“Wanna play a song?” he asked

“Sure, Brittney just pulled up though,” I responded.

“That’s fine,” he answered, “I have to wait for the last two groups to come in before we can go out.”

Tyler then sat down in his broken, blue folding chair and started strumming the chords to Vance Joy’s popular song, “Riptide.” Brittney walked up as Tyler played and I sang. Tyler joined in on choruses. After the song finished, I slipped off my denim shorts and put them into the large wooden box that Tyler kept the paddles in. I put on a life jacket, without fastening the straps and pulled out a paddleboard paddle. I maneuvered my way onto the paddleboard as Tyler helped my friend, Brittney, onto hers and my fiancée, Alyssia, into her kayak. As I sat straddling the paddleboard in the cold Sheboygan River, I heard Tyler laugh. I looked up and immediately recognized the mischievous look in his eyes from the past 15 years. He backed up to the other end of the pier and I yelled “No! Tyler, don’t you dare!” I tried to paddle away quickly, but before I made enough distance Tyler was sprinting and jumped off the pier onto the back of my paddleboard, flinging me off the other end. I splashed under the cold, brownish green water and popped back up with my sunglasses still on my face and revenge on my mind. We all laughed as I swam back to the paddleboard and tried to pull myself back up, still holding onto the white and black paddle. “That was so mean!” I said, as even I was still laughing.

“Yes, yes it was.” Tyler laughed and we all erupted with laughter again.

In one of my writing classes we had to do a hermit crab essay. I decided to write a humor-ish piece about some of the mental illnesses I have. I had never heard of this form of writing before so when I submitted this piece I thought I’d get a 5/10. Surprisingly, my professor loved it! She suggested I submit it for publishing and to start writing on this website. So this one’s for you, Dr. Young. Thank you for believing in me and inspiring me!