From Young to... Well... Older



  
 You realize you're gonna be around these people until you die...
 OK, so every time I listen to Alicia Keys, I think of soul. She has such soul in her voice. It’s been a terribly long winter. It just went on and on and on. It wasn’t that it was so cold or snowed a lot, nothing like that, it just lasted forever and then it went from winter to summer in two days.

Now it is gloomy again so everyone is grumpy. A lot has happened this winter; tons of growth and changing with a lot of people. Especially myself. I see now the why’s and how’s of some things. I may not like it but I do see now.

I have so much more to do. It’s all good and it’s such a mission. I make sure I never get too busy to talk to my friends and I always try to take the time to say that special thing to a student or one of my wonderful teachers. Such good kids we have in our family. I know there are a lot of bad kids out there, but we are soooo lucky that we have the martial arts in our life because we get the chance to work with such wonderful children and teens. And if they aren’t so special and wonderful when they first come in (which is the case a lot), they turn into self-confident, loving, human beings that you really get attached to.

So, parents, if you wonder why it’s so hard on us to accept kids dropping off or leaving for a whole summer, just imagine what it would be like to have a big extended family where you get attached to these students and learn about them and hug them and become a figure in their lives and they in ours. Please understand it’s hard on us teachers when they grow up and go away, or move, or drop out for unforeseen reasons. We love them like our own. We watch them grow up.

I was astounded to realize at the last tournament in Wyoming, standing there with one of my dearest friends, James Dean – and we were laughing because a friend we hadn’t seen for a long time showed up with all his kids and they were all grown up and then he looked at my daughter who is not a 7 year old cutie anymore but a 15 year old fox that I have to bodyguard now (oh boy) – and we all went OMG we’re gonna be watching the grandkids compete pretty soon, guys.

But you know we were all cool with it and just sort of felt at peace knowing we have such great friends in each other. There is a peace knowing someone for 15 years. They watch you go through some awful things and you watch them and you’re always there for each other. It is a feeling that we as martial artists and teachers start attaining after about 5 years and really start understanding at 10 years and then at about 15 you realize you’re gonna be around these people until you die and it just sort of makes you feel such a part of something very special.

That is what I am talking about. We are special martial artists. We are a rare and true breed of people. We’ll never ever give it up. I must watch all the little grandkids compete so Jim and Chris and Carlos and Patty and I can laugh about how we used to be young uns a long, long time ago.

And yes, Chris, we can still kick some butt; even better now. Maybe the kicks are lower and the body aches a little but, hey, what’s a little pain when we have each other? And remember Patty’s on our side. I remember Chris telling me many years ago that if the *%&# comes down we will all come together and we will survive together. I truly and with all my heart believe that.

marcia@GurlFytrz.com