The seeds for my love of Aikido were probably laid vacationing as a child on a Dutch island: jumping down sand dunes head first is my fondest memory.
I discovered Aikido late when I was almost out of college and it took me a long time to get good at it. It's now been 17 years and there are days when I wonder whether I should not return my black belt
But most of all I like flying. I could never afford a Cessna but fifty bucks a month works just fine.
My only current gripe is that my (fantastic!) club, for no apparent reason, has very few female members, and I enjoyed the precision and elegance of female Aikidoka a lot when I trained in Europe where they make up at least 50% of members.