What An Honor

Saturday, July 20th, 2013 started normally enough.  The dogs were awake, ready for breakfast, and then to go defend the yard from dangerous squirrels and birds.  I was a little nervous and anxious.  My son, Chase and I were scheduled to take our P2 test in Krav Maga.  While we both felt we were ready, there are so many things to remember.  And we knew it was going to be at least a couple of hours of intense testing. 

We both passed our P1 tests earlier in the year.  Mine was at the end of January, and his was in February.  He was originally scheduled to take his in January, and came down with the flu, including 102-degree fever the morning of the test.  I may have been as disappointed as he was that we were unable to test together.  Krav has been something we have enjoyed together, and it has been a great bonding experience. 

We began the test on Saturday at around 9:15.  I thought there may have been a couple of other people there that morning, but as it turned out, our instructor was the only other one there.  In hindsight, it was somehow better that way.  More individualized...more private...more intimate...more special.  Working our way through the entire P1 curriculum was “fairly easy".  Sometime a little before 11:00, we began P2. 

As I type this on Monday at lunch, my forearms, my shoulders, my knees, my back, and even my eyebrows hurt.  Okay, maybe not the eyebrows. 

After three hours in a small, stuffy room, the test was over.  Steve, our instructor, gave us points on what we needed to remember, some things to focus on to improve, and where we did well.  We left; both exhausted, and pretty well spent for the rest of the day.  But we had passed.

BTW -- Steve is an incredible instructor.  He cares about teaching Krav, and he cares about his students.  It is not enough to him to teach the technique.  He wants to know you know why it works.  And he takes the time to show you how to do it better.  What works for him may not work for me.  (I am quite a bit smaller).  Check us out at http://www.legacykravmaga.com. 

What an incredible honor it was to test with him.  We have a few bruises, and I think I busted his lip accidentally.  But to test with him, and accomplish this together was an awesome experience.  It has been wonderful to have this time with Chase.  I say "has been" because in just over a week, he will leave for the Navy.  For the past two years, he has lived with me.  Krav has given us something that we can work together on, discuss, hurt each other a little, and bond with each other. 

As I write this, my eyes begin to tear because I know he will soon be gone.  It is sadness and joy.  It is watching a child become a man.  It is watching someone who was pretty well at the depths of his life a couple of years ago, coming through it, and making the world a better place.  There are not a lot of things in my life that I am proud of.  But when I look at my son, I am proud.  Not because of anything I have done, but because of the man he has become. 

We were talking about next week, and he said he did not want us to be emotional when he swears in.  Good luck with that.  It may be something he understands in another thirty years or so.  I certainly do not claim any credit for Chase being the man he has become.  His life has always been in God's hands.  

Thank you, God, for loving Chase enough to bring him through the trials, and make him someone I am so very proud of.  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of his life.  And please watch over him and protect him in (and out) of the Navy. 

Chase, thank you for never giving up.  I know there were times you wanted to.  Times you just "knew" life was not worth it.  But you have proven yourself wrong.  No matter what comes ahead; no matter how tough life becomes; remember what you have come through.  Whatever it is, whatever it takes...

You can do it.

I love you.


I am proud of you.

Getting Older

Sitting around on Saturday night, we began to celebrate our birthdays. Mine was February 28th, my son, Chase, is March 19th, and my brother, Stuart, is March 20th. Dad was up from Sanderson to help celebrate, and we began to open gifts.

First was my brother's from dad. As he opened it, his smile slowly subsided to the awkward, "I want to look happy, but I'm not quite sure what this is" phase.

"Oh," he said. "This looks...was this on my list? I mean, it looks good...was it on my list?"

I walked over to where he was sitting, and saw it was a book on tape.

Dad made a comment about maybe he saw the wrong list. Stuart is in to a lot of different things, but I don't remember him ever asking for a book on tape. That's my thing. I like listening to books on tape while I'm driving back and forth to and from work. So I looked at the title, and it looked like something I might have put on my list, but I wasn't sure.

So when it was my turn, dad said it was the wrong card. The tape from my envelope had the same color green as my wrapping paper, (which was different from Stuart's). So I told dad it had been on that (my) present. He insisted it was on the wrong package, so I started to hand Stuart my present, knowing it was likely his anyway. Then dad showed me the tape, which was the same color as the paper, therefore proving it belonged on my present, which is what I had tried to convince him of just seconds earlier. So I opened my present, and saw it was a video game that Stuart had put on his list. We swapped presents, and got a light laugh.

Stuart made a comment that the book on tape (mine) looked good, so maybe he would borrow it on his long drive down to Terlingua next time he went.

Dawn suggested that since I already had one from Christmas, he could borrow it. I thought she meant my new one, and told her I was already done with the one from Christmas.

"I know," she said with a strange look on her face. "That's why I said he could borrow it."

We all started laughing out loud at how suddenly we had all turned into people incapable of rational thought, and much less capable of being able to communicate with each other.

Poor Chase. There he sat on the couch, watching the three of us Street men, likely realizing that this was what he has to look forward to. He and I have talked often enough (in a joking manner) about when it comes my time to be put in a home. Unfortunately, I'm afraid after this weekend, the next time might not be quite as lighthearted.

Later that night, because we needed to challenge our mental abilities further, we decided to play Chicken Foot. It is a domino game that I had heard of before. It's not that complicated, once you learn how to actually play correctly. Then again, that evening, I'm guessing Tic Tac Toe would have taxed our abilities.

In my defense, I had already lost all of my chips playing poker before pouring my heart and soul out over a grill to make sure everyone got to enjoy a wonderful meal of chicken and turkey dogs.

I didn't say it was a GOOD excuse.

I have learned, through experiences like this, to quit taking myself so seriously. (No one else does.)

Life is short. And too much time is spent watching the news, and realizing what a horrible world we live in sometimes. I'm convinced that every once in a while, we need to surround ourselves with others who will help us laugh.

In high school, my best friend was a guy named Dewayne. To all of us, he was Bubba. We were inseparable. And we laughed our way through just about every evening, and every weekend. For years, that got lost in me. I spent way too much time trying to prove to everyone that I was someone to be taken seriously.

I've learned better.

Thank you to my family, for being such a joy in my life.

And I'm sorry, Chase. I'm afraid this is what you have to look forward to. At least, I pray you will be blessed with family the way I have.