geminigirl | Kicking ass and Chewing bubble gum

aquariumgirl commented last night that "karate seems to agree with you."

And I was thinking....

When I was growing up, my Mom was always very flexible about what after school activities we chose to get involved with. Some were non-negotiable, like Hebrew School. And the other non-negotiable was that the activities we chose had to include at least one physical activity. It was Mom's way of making sure that we got some physical activity in.

Now, I'm not the most coordinated person it the world. Nor am I particularly athletic or competitive. So the sports/physical activity thing was, well misery. My mom is quite the athlete. As a high school student, she won several basketball awards. She played tennis. I have a pretty good free throw for someone as short as I am...Mom taught me to play basketball. Mom is also soft and curvy the way I am...but she wanted to kind of instill a commitment to lifetime fitness. And I do understand that part.

But I was such a miserable athlete. I hated virtually everything I did. I wasn't aggressive enough to be good at things. I wasn't coordinated enough to be good at dance, or some of the other things.

I'm probably still that way. I'm sure I'm still unaggressive, uncoordinated and unathletic. But I'm having fun. And I'm feeling good. And I'm working hard. I love the time for head clearing. Something clicked, the right way. I don't know why I want to keep training, but I do. It's the people. And it's the way I feel. I'm not competing with anyone. I'm doing this for me and simply because I want to learn more. It's not easy, but it works. Step by step I get better. I've learned not to always look where I'm punching. It's incredibly satisfying to hit my target. I'm thinking about where my shoulders are.

I've found something I can do, that I like, that works well, that feels good. And that's what keeps me going. It