Like all great stories, this one begins and ends with zucchini.
Here’s what happened.
As planned, I made [read: commissioned Baking Daughter to make] muffins with the zucchini from the Senseis’ bounteous garden. I showed Sensei:
Sensei said, “Want to make a trade??? You need raw materials, I need finished goods.”
Cover me.
I’m going under cover.
Cover your mouth when you sneeze?
Okay, fine. I was trying to be unique and not do the standard announcement, but…
Actually, I am well. I just wanted to use that title.
What’s most occupying me these days is a two-week girls’ self defense camp I’m teaching at my kids’ school. I’m halfway through and loving it. The girls are so attentive and into it. One girl showed up on day one looking the picture of, “I don’t want to be here, but my mom is making me do this.” However, she perked up quickly and was smiling throughout class. Win!
One of my daughters is helping me and is a dynamo. “I really like martial arts,” she said, and it shows.
One day we did Taekwondo kicks. Not in a position to be doing those myself, I spoke, Daughter demonstrated. Then, feeling nostalgic, she stood on one leg and threw kicks of different sorts in all directions. One student said, “Go, Elise!” And we clapped. Whichever girl she partners with I can ignore because I know Elise will help her with the moves as needed, leaving me to watch over the others.
She’s also multi-talented. For July 4th, she made mini cupcakes. Starting with white cake batter, she divided it into three bowls and put red and blue food coloring into each of the two other bowls. So, not only were the cupcakes striped red, white, and blue (and delicious), she used tweezers (washed first!) to painstakingly embellish the frosting with tiny sprinkles.
Here are some follow-ups to previous posts.
After the one about Mrs. Instructor, she let me know she hasn’t subscribed to my blog because
Awwwhhhh… My very own stalker. Just what I always wanted.
After my Sensei goes to Singapore post, (dang, I should’ve called it that!) Ju-Lyn and I were talking about the visit. I wrote:
When Sensei mentioned he was going to Singapore for work, I responded:
Ha. Yeah right. Crazy. Buuuutttt…
I have old stories I haven’t yet shared, so I must take you back to my Combatives class days for a moment. Please forgive the timeline whiplash.
Instructor is quite funny, seemingly without even trying. For instance: “If you need to take someone down, be careful of what’s behind him. You don’t want to land in the street or on a baby stroller, or koala, or a cat. Be aware of your surroundings.”
I leaned to the woman next me. “Did he say koala?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said, equally befuddled.
He weaves stuff like this in seamlessly.
Another thing he does is explain a move then ask Surfer Dude if he has anything to add. Since I was often demo partner in SD’s absence, I mentioned to Sensei that my new life goal was to be asked if I had anything to add.
Sensei responded with a characteristic insult. My first clue it was coming was when he opened his mouth. I, however, saw this as an excellent opportunity to make my first class joke.
Yet another previously written post, but I had good reason to delay publishing.
The writing was slowly appearing on the wall. The beginner Jiu-Jitsu class was becoming too basic. I’d lingered longer than a normal person would because I wanted to soak up every last detail.
Then when a student I’d been helping when he was relatively new earned his fourth stripe, I knew I had overstayed my welcome.
With this new resolve, after class one day, I approached Instructor.
“When do you think I’ll be ready to test?” I asked.
He looked down, thoughtful, then turned to his brother.
Surfer Dude looked at me. “Now?”
I rapid fire blinked at him.
“Yeah, do you want to do it now?” Instructor asked.
“What? Uhhh.” I had not expected this response, and I was not prepared to test on the spot.
“Do you want to watch the demo videos first?” SD asked and suggested I print the test pages which list the moves for each of the four main drills.
I agreed with this plan and left in a daze.
Having made the decision to test, I needed to prepare. The best person to help me was someone who knew enough Jiu-Jitsu to be a knowledgeable “bad guy.”
One of my daughters wanted to continue Taekwondo. Sensei said it would take a lot to pull him back into teaching. I suggested maybe we do a blend of Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu on a quid pro quo basis. I’ve acquired some grappling mats. Might as well use them. He agreed. And thus, Taekwon-Jitsu was born!
Sensei practiced three forms with us then eagerly pointed at the mats. “Remind me how to do triangle chokes.”
But first I wanted to be sure everyone had break falls and standing up in base down. Youngest Daughter, who was my assistant when I did self defense classes with fellow moms at school, went over trap and rolls and wrist releases with her sisters. (I was so proud.)
Meanwhile, I helped Sensei with triangle chokes. At some point I elbow escaped to get back into guard and so subsequently had to refresh his memory on elbow escaping. (I should mention, he only did Jiu-Jitsu with me for a month.)
![Stay or leave, I want you not to go, but you should [maybe]–Dave Matthews](https://ilsarey.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/t-city-with-tate.jpg?w=150 "Stay or leave, I want you not to go, but you should [maybe]–Dave Matthews")
Jacqui at Word Dreams suggested I write a memoir about my martial arts experience. I’m intrigued by the idea. I do enjoy writing books and recently learned there’s a Polish version of my parenting book. (There’s also a Polish translation of my first book. Good ol’ Poles!)
The problem is, it’s hard to start a book when you don’t know the ending. Will it be book-worthy? Betsy takes on the world and succeeds against all odds–Yes. Betsy does martial arts for a few years then quits because her body can’t take it any more?–Not so much.
But I worry that could be my fate.
Here’s the thing: my lower extremities hate me. Still. I wear my ankle brace constantly, and I’ve been back to sitting on the shower floor for months. The first time I decided to sit because my feet can’t take the pressure, I sort of smiled inwardly, in a sad ironic way, and thought, “Hello, shower floor, my old friend,” because I tend to think in modified song lyrics.
I was determined not to have a baking story to share because everything would be smooth sailing.
Hahahahaha!
First of all, I had asked a daughter to be sure we had all the ingredients we needed for our black belt ceremony cake. I was told to pick up whipped cream; otherwise, we were good.
Then Monday morning, day of the ceremony, I checked the recipe just to be sure. Wouldn’t you know it, I needed both milk and dark chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream. This was after going to three stores the Saturday before.
Son of a biscuit. Mondays are my busiest work days. I was at the closest store as soon as it opened at 9 and was out by 9:03, rushing home to get my work done. Finally, around 3:00, I took a break to make the ganache frosting.
I had three bowls with a cup each of white, milk, and dark chocolate chips and had to watch the heavy whipping cream in the microwave, at 30 second intervals, to catch it when it was just boiling. Then I needed to pour 3/4 cups immediately into each bowl.
Naturally, my boss called me twice while in the midst of this.
Writing and Martial Arts 