Christmas 2011

2011: The Year of Karate

This year, I signed up for Karate. Both Cal and Charlie take Karate every Tuesday night at the Grapevine recreation center and I found myself spending a few hours watching them every week. Rather than be passive, I signed up for the teen/adult class with Cal. But before I could join Cal, I had to attend “white belt class.”

For those who don’t know, Karate is a lot like soccer. There are some adults who play soccer, but the overwhelming majority of participants are kids. So, there I found myself in my very first Karate class practicing the double handed wrist grab self defense move with a 10 year old little girl wearing a pink “Hello Kitty” t-shirt. For being 10, she was really fierce. She had the eye of the tiger.

So, how much different was I from the average “pre-tween” in the white belt class?

·         At 42 years old, I am four to six times older than anyone else in the class.

·         I have been alive for as many US presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama) as the age of most of the other student (8 US presidents = 8 years old).

·         I outweigh everyone by at least 60 pounds and am 1 ½ feet taller than the next tallest person in the class

Fortunately, the instructors promoted me to the teen/adult class after two 30 minute white belt classes. For that, I am grateful. However, I have found out that Karate is really hard. I am not as flexible as I thought I was, but I think this will be good. Cal and I now spend more time together and he and Charlie teach me the more advanced moves.

So, the theme of this letter is spending quality time with the family. As an adult, I do look pretty silly sitting in a class with so many little ones. But that is a small price you pay to create memories and to spend time togther. I am thankful for having the opportunity to look so silly. Now, the family update....

Margaret, our oldest, is now fifteen and is a freshman at Grapevine High School. Wow, do I feel old! Her favorite classes are Choir and English. She is doing well in school overall. Over the summer she completed her Girl Scout Silver award, which is the second highest achievement in Girl Scouts. For her project, she spent 55 hours teaching troubled youths and many younger girl scouts how to knit. She is also taking acting lessons and is convinced that she wants to act professionally. I am encouraging her to have a “Plan B” in case that does not work out.

Our middle child, Cal, is now in sixth grade. This is his first year in middle school and he is doing reasonably well. As I noted above, he takes Karate and has recently attained his orange belt. This year he also transitioned from being a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout. He joined troop 700 last spring. He has been on a few campouts and is adjusting to the new routine and requirements. Unfortunately for Cal, he broke his toe, which is the 4^th bone that has broken in 2 years. Laura knows the orthopedic surgeon better than she would like to.

Charlie, our youngest, is now an eight year old in third grade at Dove Elementary. This year his reading has really improved. His has read all of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series. He was elected to the student council and is in the talented and gifted program at school. He also takes Karate and has just attained the junior orange belt rank. Like his older brother, he is active in scouting where he is in the Bear den of Pack 300.

Laura continues to teach two days a week at the Saint Francis preschool program. She is an active volunteer holding the following positions: the environmental coordinator at Dove elementary school, the treasurer for the Cub Scout pack, an assistant in Margaret’s Girl Scout troop, and a room mother in Charlie’s class. She is also finishing her book on environmentalism and the Catholic Church. She hopes to get published sometime next year. For those interested in the topic, you can follow her blog at www.greenforgod.blogspot.com. She is very busy.

As for me, not much has changed. I still work for a company that manufactures industrial robots for manufacturing. They are based in California and I have worked from home for the last 5 years. It is working out well. As in years past, I did a sprint triathlon in May. I had hoped to do more, but timing did not allow for more.  Perhaps next year will be different. Time will tell.

Have a peaceful holiday season.      Cyle, Laura, Margaret, Cal, Charlie and Mickey (the dog)