I have two older brothers and I value my time with them. We didn’t get to spend too much time together because of our age difference, and they left home when I was a kid. But every time I’m with them, I think of the lessons and cool things they showed me (and continue to show me). I try soaking it all in and do my best to live life with their advice in mind, but especially when I was a teenager.
In 1998, after spending the summer in Brazil with my brothers, I was making my way back home to Bogota, Colombia, and, for some reason, my middle brother, took his skateboard to the airport. When I questioned it he said “the airport has cool spots to skate” I just shrugged and moved on.
We were about to say goodbye to each other when my middle brother handed me an Allen Key, and I immediately made the connection. The tool of the skateboard. He was gifting me his board, the same one he had worked hard to get at the skate shop with my blessing. The one I helped pick out every single detail of, the board, the griptape, the wheels, the bearings, the bolts, etc. This was in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The day we went to get this skateboard (so he could join me in the park {Villa-Lobos} while I roller-skated), we went to Galeria do Rock. Picture a skateboarders’ and musicians’ mall, every single store was either a skate shop or a music store. This was paradise. Going there later as a full-blown skateboarder was like being a kid at Candyland. I saw his excitement as he chose every single part of the skateboard, and he would show me, asking for my blessing, not knowing I was setting my own board.
So that day at the airport when he gave me his skateboard, that day it became my skateboard, it became my purpose. Without knowing so, or maybe knowingly so, he changed my life forever. I always wanted to emulate my older brothers because who doesn’t, especially if they’re as cool and crazy as mine are. So skating was up there. I can’t really say if I immediately put it to use. Other than being a means of transportation, it was still no different to me than my bike or my roller skates.
That’s where my friends and the city I lived in, are crucial in my quest of becoming a skateboarder. Click here to read about it.
