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Old 07-09-2011, 03:26 PM   #105
Diana Frese
Dojo: Aikikai of S.W. Conn. (formerly)
Location: Stamford Connecticut
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 386
United_States
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Re: Open Letter to My Students

After reading Linda Eskin's excellent blog post about this thread, (I had already posted good wishes for her third kyu test before I found her previous blog post) George's most recent comment was enough of a challenge for me to finally post here after skimming through this very fascinating topic and intending to study all the posts later.

Yes I am a dropout! But why do I still care?

Memories of "flying for people"

I joined Aiki Web on the Thanksgiving thread in gratitude to former teachers, training partners and students, and have probably already run out of stories since then.....

But I do want to say something about what some people might call ulterior motives.

On returning from Japan at the age of thirty naturally people were thinking I should go meet people, date, etc..... but somehow I thought a person who didn't know about martial arts in general wouldn't understand me, and understanding is important in marriage.

Later when the publishing company downsized, I thought maybe I should look for a job which wasn't a desk job. How about police work or construction. That moment I was standing in front of the old Town Hall here in Stamford. I figured police work was out, even though I had friends from the Y who were police officers.... because the thought of firing a weapon in the line of duty was scary.

Strangely enough I did end up in construction, and married another friend from the Y who hired me. But we didn't get rich and I didn't continue teaching. But at least it's something a Japanese would understand as a traditional trade .... We practice from time to time and remember with nostalgia the times we did hard training, he in Shotokan, and me in Aikido. So that is why I consider myself a part of both sides of the debate. And I'm grateful to so many on Aiki Web who have assured me one is never too old....

My hat's off to all of you who have persevered!
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