Adventures in “Numb Chuck” training
So, Pop Warner football took over my life for a couple of months and made it hard to get to karate class. Becuase of this I got reallybehind on…everything. So, a couple of weeks ago, I contacted my Sensei to arraange some private lessons. We scheduled 4 and yesterday was my 3rd.
The first week we went over all the stances, blocks, strikes, kicks and katas. Wow, was I rusty. I’ve lost all height on my kicks and muddled my katas something fierce. There are a lot of detail things I need to work on. I mean, I can go through the motions just fine, so now it’s time to fine tune the little things.
The second week, Sensei was in Florida helping with some military training so I worked out with a 19 (?) year old kid who is being trained to teach classes. He’s already taken over the Lil’ Dragons classes and subs when needed. He’s a really good instructor and I enjoyed working with him. He took me through the nunchuku stuff I had missed. I picked up the rolls really fast, I even impressed myself. I was rolling it with my left hand even. Then we went over some sparring. I havent sparred in so long, I was actually avoiding it. He showed e a couple of things that I’m sure to forget, lol. All in all it was a good session though. I finally felt like the pieces of me were falling back into place.
Yesterday, Ben was back and we had a “mock test”. I joked that it was a mock test in the sense that Ben made fun of me the whole time, lol. I screwed up the end of one kata because I was focused on what my hands were supposed to be doing. That fine tuning. He told me I was doing great though. After that, he taught me the nunchuku kata. It still needs a lot of work to get all the moves flowing smoothly, but I was really impressed with how quickly I picked it all up. Even the difficult roll that involves changing grips while rolling.
Next week we are planning to work on ground fighting. I’ve done it one time and got my ass handed to me. Oy!
Wasted Emotions
I know I’m just wasting energy being annoyed by this, but it is what it is.
I havent spoken to my MIL since May. I’m good with that. She has been very hurtful and rude adn just down right mean in the past and it wall came to a head in May and I finally washed my hands of the whole thing. I stated that as far as I am concerned, the woman does not exsist. If she wants to see the kids, she can go through my husband. She isn’t welcome at my home and I have no intention of going to her’s.
In Sept, she turned her venom on my husband, her son. She was cruel, and he told her that he had no mother, and she had no family. Back in May when the stuff happen with me, she successfully pushed her other son and his family away. Dennie was the only one still speaking to her and she set that bridge ablaze. I always expected that he woudl eventually relent, and that was ok. He’s nothing if not loyal and she is his mother after all.
Now, the annoyance part. She hasn’t had contact with anyone since all this happen. I’ve spoken with my BIL/SIL since they went back to Texas and at one point my SIL even said that email that she sent to MIL had been returned, blocked by recipient. Who blocks their child? That is petty and childish and one of the biggest reasons everyone is washing thier hands of her. Because that is how she operates. I could go into stories, but that’s not what this post is about.
I was checking my husband’s email yesterday. I do that occasionally. Mostly to see if he has checked his messages if I sent him something. I had sent him an email about something we are doing a couple weeks from now and wanted to make sure he had read it. Anyway, I found 2, stupid forwards in his inbox from his mother. You know those annoying chain forward things. She can sent that crap, but she can’t apologize. After everything she has done, she is just going to waltz back in like nothing ever happen. And she will expect us all to just forget about it and sweep it under the rug. Well, my rug is full. IF this was some random person I woudl have cut ties years ago, but because she is “family” I allowed her abuse for years. And that is exactly what her actions amount to, abuse. I would never accept it from someone else, and I wont accept it from her. If she calls I will tell her there is no one here who wants to talk to her. You know the kids dont even want to see her. And it isn’t due to anything I’ve said, it’s all based on what they have seen from her.
So yeah, It’s wasted energy to be annoyed by her emails, but I am. I really need to stop letting her have that much control over me.
Grab My Wheel
“In the fight against cancer, no one rides alone”
I’ve taken up another cause with my bike. Grabmywheel.net is dedicated to raising money for cancer research. I feel like there is so little I can do after Donna’s death. This is my little contribution.
Le Tour de Femme is in 2 weeks.
For Donna
It’s taken me a couple of days to be able to write this.
When we first started taking karate so many years ago, we met a boy and his mother. Sam and Donna. Sam was a 9 yr old sweetheart. This boy was so kind and funny and charming and had the biggest heart for someone so young. His mother, Donna was a wonderful woman, wife and mother. You could see the love in her eyes. Donna also had cancer. She had already been battling it for many years when I met her.
As would be expected, she had her ups and downs. She had great days, and she had bad days. She lost her hair, lost weight, lost energy, but she never lost her will to live. For 6 yrs we, the entire dojo, were there for her, and for Sam and his brother and father. We prayed for her health when she had down periods. We celebrated when she passed another milestone. We all loved her deeply.
Last week, Donna went into the hospital. Her lungs were filled with fluid. The Drs treated her and her body released the fluid and she was able to breathe. They told her that her body had been through too much and this was the end. They told her it was a matter of days. This wasn’t the first time she had been told this. Donna was a fighter. She had kids that needed her and she wasn’t going to leave them yet. No matter how many times you go through it. How many times the Drs tell you the end is eminent, you are never prepared when it comes. Donna was surrounded by her family. She refused morphine because she wanted to be coherent for her family. Finally in the last few hours she finally succumbed and took the morphine to make the end as comfortable as possible.
Donna passed away on Monday Oct 2, 2006. She left behind her husband Robert, 17 yr old William, and 15 yr old Sam. The world is a sadder place without Donna in it. She will be forever missed.
Life…..Or something like it
In a word…..busy. That’s been me lately. My son’s football has taken over my life. My two younger kids are on their 3 week intersession right now (week 3, Woot!), but the youngest has been going to extended year from 8:30-11:30. Way to chop up a day. I have to hurry and do stuff in the mornings so I can get him, then hurry and do stuff before I pick up the oldest, then hurry and get dinner ready before football practice. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait. Next week, life as I know it resumes. School will be back in session and I will have 6 glorious, kid free hours. That means someone will get sick…probably me.
Speaking of football…it’s going well. The team is 3-1, and played an undeafeated team last week and won by one point. A nice close game. Everything up to that point had been a shut out, so they needed a nail bitter to keep them on thier toes.
The bad news, football is going well. I haven’t been to karate class in 2 mths. I go to a smallish dojo and there aren’t any day time classes and the classes that they do have are during, or right after, football practice. It’a already a long day without adding an hour of karate from 8-9pm, so I’ve missed class. I just contacted my Sensei to see about private, daytime lessons. I will have to give up a limb, but it will be worth it to get back into my martial arts. I feel like my arm has been cut off without it as it is. Fall is closing in and that means colder weather and shorter days and Seasonal Affective Disorder where I don’t even want to get out of bed. So, I kinda need this to keep me sane. I should check into getting my insurance to pay for it. It’s gotta be cheaper that Prozac
In other news…I am pretty sure I picked out my new bike. The Fuji Finest 1.0 Series Women’s Specific, in blue of course. Or maybe red. Or perhaps steel. Probably blue. My shoes are blue and I like being matchy.
So that’s that. Life is up busy. Next week things get back on track. I miss karate. I want a new bike.
