Friday, October 24, 2008

Black Belt Blues (apologies to the similarly named blog)

(You should know that Black Belt Blues is the name of a blog by a recoveree from ACL reconstruction, and an excellent place to visit.)

It's been a busy fall so far for me. Last weekend was the first time in six weeks that I haven't worked on a Sunday--but I did go to Virginia to take care of my parents. A tree had fallen on their porch--and on my Dad's beloved 20-year-old pickup truck. The pickup was crushed, the porch was heavily damaged.

So my Dad, at 88, went out to try and clean things up. Instead, he fell, impaled his arm on some wreckage, and got a nasty, nasty puncture wound.

So I went down to spend the weekend. He needed more stitches, and he needed reminders to take his antibiotics every day.

Between work, family and the trip to Virginia, I am pretty sure that last week was the first time since recovering from my ACL injury that I didn't attend a single martial arts class (apart from vacation weeks spent out of town). That's how busy it's been.

When I got back, I went to class on Tuesday--and found that two of my contemporaries, Warren and Larry, both 51, had gone to the black belt test on Sunday and had gotten their black belts. I was thrilled for them, and they were so happy.

I would be less than totally honest if I didn't also say I was feeling a bit blue that I wasn't there to get my belt with them. They both said I should have been there to get the belt also. Between work, hurting my shoulder and just not having time to train, I knew I wouldn't be able to test this past Sunday. With everything still going on, I do wonder when I'll be able to test.

Tonight, I go to sparring class. We'll see how much of a hindrance my lack of consistent conditioning poses.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, BBBlues understands completely, having just watched the guy he would have trained with get his black belt last weekend.

I am so sorry about your father. Hope he gets well soon.

I know you'll be up soon for your black belt. Hope class went well.


P.S. I was wondering where all the extra traffic to my blog came from.

Michele said...

Bob, I am sorry to hear of your fathers fall. I wish him a speedy recovery.

I have often thought of how difficult the ACL injury was for you and BBBlues due to the proximity to your black belt testing. I can only imagine.

I hope you had a great sparring session!

Bob M said...

Thanks for the empathy, guys.

It's certainly true that the benefits of the martial arts journey far exceed the benefits of the black belt destination, and I need to remember that. Still, it would be nice to reach that station.