(ring) (ring)
“Yellows.”
“Fabe?”
“Yes.”
“Fabe, this is Cooper.”
“Coop! How are you? I can’t remember the last time we spoke. What’s new?” Cooper was a vendor’s technical representative that worked with me over twenty years ago. He supported the software for the computer hardware that we had purchased and installed. We had struck up a friendship and periodically kept in touch throughout the years.
“Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, I’ve been taking this martial arts class about two hours away, and if I get enough people interested I may be able to talk the instructor into teaching a class up here.”
My spider senses tingled at this last statement. What was Coop going to do, ask me to commit to taking the class? With my knees the way they are, well, there seemed little chance in that. Too much running in my youth rendered my knees less then optimal. Oh, I amble along well enough and people can’t tell that I have bad knees, but I can’t run. Or kick, for that mater. And I’m not young!
I started thinking of excuses so I would have them handy when Coop made “the ask.”
“So, uhh, tell me about this class you want to bring up here...” I said with some hesitation.
That’s when he started talking about internal versus external gung fu, meditation, walking circles, and on and on. His comments about structure negated my excuse of bad knees; “You're taught the proper way to walk.” And he’s just a little younger than I am, so that negated the age excuse. Besides, what he said really did sound intriguing.
Oh, what the heck, I thought. One night a week won’t be bad. It’ll get me out of the house. Karen, my wife, ias always at the barn riding horses and doing whatever else she does to keep those beasts healthy. She might have to change their oil and tune them up once in a while, I’m not sure.
From that inauspicious start where the stars just happened to be aligned (I had kept up a friendship with an old vendor contact, he and I had similar interests, I had the free time, was looking for something new, trusted Coop’s judgment, and had a nascent interest in the subject matter), I began my journey in Jiulong Baguazhang. I am now hooked, and hooked deep.
