The Natural...

From what I understand, it is very rare to have someone start martial arts and be considered a “natural” by those teaching the class.

We have a girl in our class who started last session and I had not really paid much attention to her before she and I paired up a few weeks ago as partners for kicking drills.

I’m going to call this girl “Roxy” because when it comes to karate, this girl ROCKS. I don’t know her exact age, but I’m guessing about 16 – 18. She is very quiet and polite. And, no, she’s not an Amazon either - She’s of average height and weight.

Like I said, until about 3 weeks ago, I had seen her do a few drills, etc. and thought to myself that she was good. But that is about as far as it went. Then, she and I paired up to do walking, kicking drills. I struggled. She didn’t even flinch. She was great. She has balance, technique and power (as evidenced by the red stinging flesh of my forearms under the focus pads I held to which she administered her walking roundhouse kicks!)

I told her she was great and that I really felt bad about my own performance in partnering up with her. She giggled a little but kept on ploughing through the focus pads and encouraged me to do the same. Once when I was extolling her martial arts virtues, Sensei walked by and said, “Yeah, she’s a natural.”

We had a good workout. I think I tried a little harder with Roxy as my partner. I knew I was not nearly as good as she, but it didn’t stop me from trying!

We paired up again a little over a week ago for self defense drills. I liked working with her because we were on more of a level playing field with self defense drills. We practiced as close to reality as we could without actually hurting each other. Sensei had us get out of different holds, including if someone was choking us up against a wall. Really great resources to have stored in your brain! And we both saw the value in this.

And although we were on that level playing field, Roxy excelled at this exercise as well. She didn’t blow me out of the water this time like she did with her kicking, but she paid attention, took it seriously, questioned why we did it the way we did it and if it would work another, but similar way. She and I exchanged ideas and thoughts. She always seems ready to learn. I really enjoyed training with Roxy. She can be my partner any day.

Even though I am not by any stretch (pun intended) a “natural”, I do have motivation. I really and truly WANT to learn and improve my performance. I will never be a “natural” and I don’t think it will ever come easily to me. (I’d like to be wrong about that though.) but I will never give up.

It goes to show – It takes all kinds – from “The Natural” to “The Motivated”…(And in Roxy’s case, she has BOTH…a winning combination!)

Go Roxy!

Precious Jewels

I loved my job of 6-1/2 years. I loved 99.9% of the people I worked with. (.1 percent, if you're reading this, you know who you are...snicker...I know - my bad) Yesterday was my last day at that job. And just wait until you hear what they did to send me out in style...and in tears...tears of gratitude for having had those 6 plus years with them...

Then why a new job? Well, the group I'm going to work with also works with the group I am coming from. And they have needed an "admin person" for almost 2 years now. They finally got a new director and he secured the authorization of the creation of this new position. I will be the Office Administrator for the Performance Improvement Group (the PI Group for short) of the biggest health care company in St. Louis, MO. (If you live here, you know which company of which I speak. If not, it wouldn't matter to you anyway LOL) As I said, a few of the people in this group have wanted me to come work for them for almost 2 years. It's nice to be wanted that much. Plus I thrive on new challenges. I'm not shy about meeting new people. In other words, this is gonna be exciting - being the person who creates this job and makes it what it ends up being someday when I move up...and that is the other reason I'm leaving the dept. for which I worked as of yesterday. There was really nowhere for me to go there. My boss tried to upgrade my job with corporate 3 times and 3 times they shot her down. In this position, I have the opportunity to work with a program called Six Sigma, with which some of you may be familiar. The new position is also much closer to home and only about 2 miles from my husband's work, so we can commute together. That alone is about a $50/week raise in gas price savings. Otherwise, it is a lateral move. It is also right next door to the company at which I worked for 10 years, so I have built-in lunch buddies!

So, now, you're probably wondering what they did to send me out "in style". You are NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS, but every word is true. First of all, the other admin assistant there, with whom I've become very close over those 6 years, planned a going away pot luck for me - a POTATO POT LUCK at that! (I'm a MAJOR potato-head!). Then, she orchestrated a chain of events to surprise me by having the diamond replaced in my engagment ring of my wedding set! Yes, really! She knew I was devastated when I lost the diamond about 4 or 5 months ago and could not afford to have it replaced. She and these other wonderful, special co-workers wanted to give me a going away present that would really mean something to me. (Can you imagine anything meaning much more than that????) She called my daughter and had her bring it out to her. (She met her at a half-way point and told me she had a lunch date that day! :) Anyway, she handed it off to another woman I work with whom I'm also pretty close with, who handed it off to her next door neighbor, who knows a reputable jewelry broker to get it replaced/repaired. (Fun side note to that: Ironically, when I went to the Journey concert a few weeks ago, the woman told me she had it in her purse that night without me even knowing! And the other couple with us - her neighbors!!!LOL)

So, fast forward to my last week of working with these folks. I had to train my replacement in 3 days. That's cramming about 3 weeks of training into 3 days. It was very grueling for both of us. I was exhausted to the point of not even being able to go to karate this past week. I was zonked and I mean really zonked - mentally and physically. And I knew the material! Can you imagine how overloaded the poor new girl felt?

At 11:30 am yesterday, the potatoes started flowing (that was the 2 varieties of potato soup)They also started rolling (the potato candy) and being scooped (all the varieties of potato salads & casseroles, both hot and cold) It was buffet heaven for me! LOL The conference room was overflowing capacity with people. There must have been 100 people there total. People craning their necks in from the hallway to watch me open the gift - a gift I thought was basically gag gifts. Wow - was I ever wrong!

I felt like a mother-to-be at a baby shower. Silence, all eyes on me as I tried to open the box. (I was waiting for someone to break out a skein of yarn to take guesses at measuring my belly girth! Embarassing enough when you really are pregnant, let alone if you weren't!LOL) So, the first gag gift in the box is a little basket that had been on my desk and I put in a community public place to try to get rid of it when I learned I got the other job. Everyone laughed. Then I open a wrapped CD case says "I Can't Drive 55"...a Sammy Hagar CD, right? Nope. A gift card to QT - my favorite gas station who has the best coffee around - even better than Starbucks! I did not open it - just said thanks. Went on to the next item, a red apple candy jar that again, I had tried to get rid of from my desk. More laughter. Then I unwrap a mug that bears the newer logo of the part of the company I'm leaving. Aw, a memento...It's filled with those pretty decorative glass rocks. The other Admin Asst tells me to pour our the rocks. And there it is...a ring box. The other Admin Asst is a jewelry fanatic and I say, "Oooooh, jewelry!" Well, jewelry is right! My repaired wedding set is staring back at me. I just couldnt' believe it! Nobody pulls off big surprises on me! I was flabbergasted. I tried to get it on my finger and I'm all puffy lately (gotta cut out that salt, plus menopause would probably help too - LOL) but my hands were shaking so much I could barely get it on. I could feel the tension as everyone thought it wasn't gonna go on. But it did, as I knew it would - My knuckles are huge but my fingers skinny, so once it was over the knuckle, it was all good. They even increased the size of my diamond! Yes, really! And it is just so clean and sparkly! I couldn't stop staring at it (in between power-training my replacment that is!) Later while back at my desk training her, the other Admin Asst told me I needed to look at the QT gas gift card. So, I did and had to blink a couple of times at the amount - was that a typo??? It read $175.00!!! OMG! It was correct!!! OMG again!! Can you believe that???? A diamond, free gas - which is about as valuable as gold these days, potatoes...yukon gold...

I would have stayed in touch with almost all these people even if they had given me all gag gifts. But just because I won't see them everyday like I used to, the most "precious jewels "of all are these people whom I shall ALWAYS call "my dear friends".

I'll be back...(in an Terminator accent)

Just in case you're wondering where I've been and if I'll ever post again...(I know - all those compliments as of late have went to my head)...

I told you a few weeks ago that I am transferring from one part of my company to another. Well, my replacement at this job just started yesterday, and there is a going away party for me tomorrow (a potato pot luck yet!!!) so I really only have a total of 2-1/2 days to train her in about 2 weeks worth of learning needed! So, she is catching on FABULOUSLY, but there is just soooo much to cover that I swear to you, I know I'm stressing waaaayyyy more than she is. LOL! I have loose ends to tie up to have ready for tomorrow - my last day at current job - so I can't even go to karate tonight. I hate to miss, but circumstances prevented me from tying up those loose ends last night.

So, I arrived at work early today just so I could give you all the heads up that I'll be back (again in a Terminator accent) as soon as I get my life under control with the transfer. I start there next week, so I imagine the first week will probably be a bear, but we have our karate group picnic next weekend, so that should be fun and I'm sure I'll have all kinds of fun stories from that!

Anyway, "talk" to you in a couple of weeks...

P.S. - I miss you!

Journey

The music group Journey was one of my favorites as a teen (and I still enjoy their music.) Matter of fact, I just went to their concert about 2 weeks ago and their new singer just blew me out of the water. But that is beside the point. The reason I start with this is that when Journey first came on the scene - or rather when they first starting enjoying major success - they were often asked why they named the band "Journey". Their reply? "Because we all felt like we were from another place - on a journey."

And we are all on a journey. Our journeys begin about the same - we are born. And our destination is the same, too - death. (Okay, I know that opens up a whole new can of worms, but let's leave theology out of it…you know what I mean…you leave this world in a physical sense.)

Since I started this blog, I've mentioned how my martial arts are all about the journey, not "arriving" at a certain belt color / rank. And I stick by that belief.

The various stops and stations in my martial arts journey are the things that make me want to continue on my path. From the first little feelings of , "Hey I enjoy this!" when learning it when Buddy was taking the first class all the way to getting my yellow belt a few months ago, each new thing in between and since excites me even more.

If I had a scrapbook of my journey in martial arts to this point, the first page would include a photo of me watching Buddy learn moves in his first session, and a text bubble over my head, thinking to myself, "If I'm gonna learn this anyway for him, I might as well learn it for myself, too!" A few pages later may include a xanax taped to the page - to symbolize the nerves I had watching Buddy's class, waiting to go to my first adult class as soon as his was over. Afraid everyone would laugh at me. Another page might sport a photo of a teenager staring their first day in a new school. The nerve it took to say hi to people and engage them in conversation to the point that I consider many of these people very good friends now. I might tape a little fake set of car keys to represent the feeling of exhilaration driving on my way home from my first class - knowing I had taken the a crucial first step of my journey. (And I have had that same feeling driving home from almost all the classes since then.) I could go on and on and if you're at least to the point in your journey that I am, you will know exactly what I'm talking about - the first sparring match. The first time you made it all the way through your first kata with no mistakes. The first time using a bo staff. The first time you received a compliment on one of your techniques. The first time you felt your own technique worthy of a compliment. All such small steps, yet such big hurdles!

The reason I'm waxing so nostalgic is that one of the senseis who started our karate school died this past weekend unexpectedly. He was a very high ranking black belt in more than one discipline. Taekwondo, Judo and a few others of which I'm not sure right off the top of my head. He was a police officer for many years, including terms as police chief in multiple cities. He served more than one term as the Executive Director of our state's Police Association. O-Sensei was a World War II veteran and a Korean War veteran. He was our Sensei's sensei. He had a wife he adored (who preceded him in death by about 2 years) and lots of children and grandchildren. He had a very full and honorable life. His martial arts journey has ended, whereas mine has just begun.

Even though I had only met him once, I was asked if I would like to attend his wake with others from our school. Approximately 12 of us attended, carpooling since it was a pretty long trek to his wake. The funeral parlor was packed. Lots of family, friends, many different police officers dressed in various municipalities' uniforms in attendance. I hope it makes a difference to that many people when I go. It was heartwarming to see.

It may sound tacky to say that I enjoyed myself, but despite the circumstances, I did. I felt a connection to our school and those currently involved as well as those who have gone before us. The history of our school surrounded me. I met people I had never met before from a sister school. The people that I see every week and know - I learned things about them I had not known before last night - Our highest ranking sensei who still teaches, started our dojo's location 28 years ago, the two senseis with next highest rankings started with him almost 20 and 21 years ago to the day. I saw one of those senseis mist up a bit when we walked by O-Sensei's casket and she realized that this wake was taking place on what would have been his 83rd birthday. I asked a couple - one a brown belt, one a black belt, which of them had started first and learned they had begun together about 10 years ago or so. A woman getting ready to test for her green belt tomorrow night said she had started when the woman of the couple was pregnant with her second child - so almost 4 years ago. I met one of our black belt's wife, whom I had never had the pleasure of meeting before. And the highlight of the evening - I had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of one of the other senseis who had started our school. His personal history was as colorful and honorable as the sensei who had just passed away. He was a bit frail, but formidable. And charming! I introduced myself as a beginner and he introduced himself as having 65 years in martial arts. I could tell he genuinely enjoyed meeting me and seeing the others he already knew. And the feeling was completely mutual. You could just feel how much everyone truly liked one another and respected him.

So, all these people in one place for one reason. People all at different marks on the timeline of their martial arts journeys. From the lowest ranking person who attended (me) to the highest ranking in attendance were all there to honor O-Sensei and his journey - his martial arts journey as well as his total life journey.

Reminder to self - It's not about the destination, but about the journey…