Surprise

(Not a surprise: I'm still having trouble with my reverse tornado kicks. My kick ends up hitting someone at about ten o'clock rather than at noon, in other words, a bit to the left of my target. Sigh. Guess I'll just keep practicing. At some point I'll get it.)

Here's the surprise.

We line up for sparring this evening. First I'm paired off with Michelle, Brian A.'s daughter. Next, though, I'm with Mr. Carter, the black belt who's recently returned. He's not wearing pads.

"Don't you have pads?" I ask.

"I'm not wearing them. The only reason I'd need them is to protect you," he says.

"Well, yeah," I answer. "That's what I meant."

Maybe this comment threw him off. Or maybe it's my size. Ah, a tiny ballerina: easy. Or maybe it's the mom thing. Someone's mom. No problem. Whatever it was, he seemed to think he could just catch all my strikes.

He did catch a number of them, but I scored on him several times: roundhouse to the chest, high front kick, a punch. He seemed surprised.

Nice of him, though, when time was up, he didn't just bow. He shook my hand. "Nice sparring!" he said.

He said it again at the end of class. "Thank you, sir. I like sparring," I replied, and bowed.

I also like surprising people. :-)