She was just a simple girl from Little Rock, Josephine Becker was as average they came… according to her. Yet she was anything but average.
Jo took time on perfecting the little things, that’s what made the 5’4 blonde bombshell stand out. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas had her life switched up at age 17 when her parents decided to move to Santa Barbara, California.
She was taken away during an important event in her life that would lead onto a future path. An avid basketball star, Jo was planning on committing to the University of Arkansas early as a junior, finish her senior year and attend the university.
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Her test scores were all laid out, playing time, stat requirements, meetings, practices, all of it was on her to do list to be able to play division 1 basketball. It all ended in smoke, her plans fell through due to the transferring hassle and the stress of the move on her goals.
She had to start over.
Moving to a new state in the middle of your Junior year can be shell shocking for sure. As bitterly as she described how much the move at the time stunk, her eyes couldn’t help but shine when she spoke of California.
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Louis’ eyes drew her in as the sea did. He was young and fresh, the typical surf-rat. His clock in time for work was 8 to 5 on that beach.
Jo met Louis and his four friends her first day in the neighborhood.
^insert quote “I can’t explain what made me think I needed to go to the beach when there were boxes in my room that needed to be unpacked. Plus my parents were super, super strict so I don’t know how they let me go either. ”
Yet she went, letting the waves talk her into coming closer, the sand sucking her in deeper into paradise. She made a friend at the local snack shack, Lizzie. Her first friend but certainly not her last.
Lizzie pointed out all the spots to see on the beach and all the right waves to catch. Jo scoffed at the idea of her being able to surf, but all it took was one go and she blew people away.
^insert quote “From that point on I knew I loved surfing. Basketball was my ticket out but the way I cold move with the waves totally changed me as a person. It made me realize I could meet anything new head on.”
When the couple finally met on the beach that day it was less than romantic. Jo gave a stiff punch to Louis’ jaw for him being a creeper with his four friends.
After that day she got to know the five boys better. Stepping on a shard of glass and cutting her foot, the five helped her back to her house.
“They were annoying at the very beginning, but when I got hurt that same day those five idiots showed me the different sides of them that I’ve kept around to this day. That day we became friends.”
Jo and Louis didn’t get together until he end of Jo’s senior year at the University of Tennessee. Before that time, Jo went through horrible relationship with Nathan, one of the five friends.
They ended in lies and betrayal that costed Jo a lot of her freedom from her parents, and took a toll on her body; borderline abuse.
Getting out as she planned, signing to play for the Volunteers instead, Jo understood herself better. She kept in contact with Louis after her disappearance from Santa Barbara and started new again but this time as an adult.
^instert quote “It was Louis all along. He was always the one I wanted to talk to, to see. When I was upset I went running to him, I don’t know why. It wasn’t until I hugged him for the first time in 5 years I felt the final click to what I’ve been missing. I was missing him.”