Dive, Dive!

I need to remember that I'm not a teenager anymore. And I'm not exactly sure how I forget, considering my body reminds me about twenty times a day. Unfortunately, I believe the dojo has some special chi thing that makes me ignore the fact that I probably shouldn't do everything the teenagers do. Usually I can't do all of it (hello, frog jumps . . . not my thing) but I do try.

However there is one thing I can do. I'm sure I've mentioned it before. My one Kung Fu skill is forward rolls. Hey, everybody's got to have a skill. And I worked for this one. After trying to do them as a white belt, and not having done a somersault for at least ten years, I limped away with what could easily have been a dislocated shoulder and a broke something or other. I'm not joking. Not this time.

So I practiced. I lined my basement with pillows and started from my knees. It took me a couple of weeks, but the next time we did forward rolls I could do them from my feet. Walking even. Now, when we do rolls, I smile.

Last night Sensei decided to up the ante. I helped with the kids class, and we had them doing diving rolls over a small hitting pad. (Big for the short ones) It's always a pleasure to watch them try to figure this stuff out. Even more fun is watching four of them trying to put the mat away, but I won't go into that. Just trust me, it's like watching an old, funny cartoon.

With the last five minutes of adult class, Sensei put a pad up for us to dive over.

Huh, never done that before. Okay, sure, I'll try it. I tried it, and I did it! Like eight or nine times. I had one bad landing, and my back and hips are paying for it today, but no broken necks, so that's good. Of course I'll never think to do it when I fall. My life is like that.