Danny Way, mid descent - photo by Grant Brittain

Whenever my mom asks me why I’m still skateboarding at my age, as if it’s equivalent to picking your nose (which I haven’t grown out of either), I wish I could transport this picture into her mind.

A wise (and perhaps autistic) guy I used to skate with once told me, “Skateboarding is the closest we can come to flying.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that airplanes have been around for over 100 years, plus I liked the point he was making anyway. It only makes sense in a way that somebody who’s really experienced skateboarding could know. The speed and danger and freedom and shit… fuck, it is a little bit like flying, isn’t it?

And I guess, just like anything that goes up in the air… at some point, you must come back down.