Graduation time is here and I'm feeling old!

Rarely do I feel old, with Shou' Shu' as a career I'm often sore but I still think I'm young.

Today is Graduation Day for the local schools, Sarah is Graduating from CHS and will be leaving for the Marines in 16 or 17 days! Two years ago three of our students (now all Shifu's) graduated and I cried at the ceremony, me crying? Yes, I felt so old, having known and trained them since they were six or seven years old and now they are 20, off at college with jobs and love interests, they don't get in the studio much anymore but they are polite enough to stop by, visit and swear their coming back to train and teach. Mr. Yermolovich posted about earning his Masters Degree, he's still a kid in my mind, and no I wasn't kidding, I'm gonna freak if he gets his Doctorate and I have to call him Dr. Yermolovich! God knows he's smart enough and disciplined enough to do it, all thanks to his Shou' Shu' training of course, oh yeah and his fantastic mom.

Basically I'm calling the "kids" out online, haha! My main motivation to train is to stay one step ahead of those young whipper snappers...

When I called two of them to tell them Da' Shifu Clark was on the site and to log on and say hello one of them said "that"s great!, Who is he again?"...trust me when I tell you, they meant no disrespect, they were 12 & 13 when Da' Shifu passed away and too young to attend adult camps, so I had to remind them.

Really I'm not bringing it up to rat them out, I'm bringing it up because in the years since Da' Shifu's death there were days I felt really old and didn't know if I was going to make it, or if I wanted to for that matter. There were days I felt young and invincible, no matter what having the kids around always reminded me of why we did what we did, that there is a cause bigger than myself; Shou' Shu' and the people who love it. In those years I've seen a lot of people come and go and I am reminded of how important it is to stay connected.

Now I don't want the adults to feel left out, you are important to me as well, but let's face it, most of you are rooted in this community, you would really need to be up to no good for you to get attacked or jumped (with the exception of those of you who work in law enforcement and with the criminal element)...again the realization of Sarah leaving and the kids being off at college, it gives me peace of mind knowing I've (and the other Shifu's that have taught them) have done my job well, I know they are smart and can fight. I still pray they don't need to but you never know.

This site is wonderful for making announcements and saying hello but the purpose of it is to keep us connected. There are Shifu's on the site that I have never met and some I only see once a month, for now this is the best way for you to get to know me and I you. So let's stay active, both on this site and in our Shou' Shu' until we meet.

Just in case the kids log on and read this I'm going to go do some bag work :) I don't want to test my fighting sets out on three young Shifu's!

I'll end with a question, is Blogging french for rambling on?

Shifu Liz