TRAVEL | SKATEBOARDING

Thank You, Skateboarding, for Helping Me Flow Through Life

Rolling and soul-arching my way through Argentina

Keep reaching. Keep dreaming. Keep pushing. A mural that hit home in Buenos Aires. — Author Photo

Seatbelts click and release. Passengers reach for the overhead bin. I grab my backpack and skateboard. Over 40 years ago, I felt the joy of a skateboard under my feet for the first time. Now, at 52 years old, I grip a surf skate, a loose-riding skateboard that mimics the feel of surfing. A comforting feeling shoots from my hands to my feet and fuels my smile.

“Here we go!” I say.

Old skate pic collage from my Gen X Shoebox Collection — Mullet Edition. Circa 1989. With my last name being Chin, friends often called me Animal Chin after an iconic skateboarding movie, The Search for Animal Chin. — Photos from the Author’s Collection.

I just landed in Argentina and haven’t traveled solo to a new country in 20 years. I’m stoked, but it’s different at this age as a divorced dad — more responsibilities, more hurt, and more to process. So, there’s a sense of loss layered into the excitement as I exit the plane.

The heartbreak from a five-year relationship ending isn’t fresh anymore, but it still builds on a whim, swelling my head and chest like a…