Someone Handed Me A Sword

Okay, so I started this draft about.. oh.. two months ago. I'm determined to get a post out tonight and I know that you all will love this one, so two-month old story revamped it is.

My mom will be the first to tell you that I never was a big fan of change when I was little. The stories that are always told about me at family reunions are the ones about me crying over change. The most commonly referenced involves my Nanny Vassie, my bed, and lots of tears. I've been told the story hundreds of times, I'm sure, but I feel that it's best she retell it, so I'll leave that thread there. The thread I really want to run with in this post is how I used to hate trying new things, was completely unreasonable with change, and would take forever to do anything unusual to me. I use "used to" because these days, it seems I want to try it all.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like an adventure. I love packing up and heading out and just.. disappearing for a little while. I've been in the Bay Area for almost a year now and I'm going crazy without a real move (more on that another day). One of the reasons I think I haven't completely lost it, tossed the girls and some clothes in the car and headed for Seattle or beyond, is because the Bay Area has a lot of random stuff to do. It's a big city with hundreds of various sized ones surrounding it. There's all kinds of indoor and outdoor activities just within a gas tank from my door. Just between you and me, I want to learn and do it all.

On that note, I'll quickly get into why and then explain the title. See, I have this theory that most people just.. aren't prepared for whatever comes their way. And the best way to be prepared is to learn and practice the skills you might need. Like snowboarding. I love skiing, but you never know when I'm going to be stranded on a mountain with bad guys (seriously, bad guys) chasing me and all I have to get away on is a snowboard. I might not be amazing at it, but if I know how to at least get down the mountain, I'll have more of a chance than those skiiers that refuse to learn boarding. Same thing goes for learning to jump out of a plane, surf, ride a motorcycle, fly a helicopter, bungee jump, so on and so forth. With this theory in mind, I present to you.. fencing.

Shaun really likes fencing and used to be on the team at his college. He was looking to get back into it a couple of months ago and found a gym with an open floor night. Curious to see if anyone wanted to join him, he asked our group of friends. I was the only one that not only jumped for the chance, but was available. We spent about 3 hours in this sweaty loft teaching me the basics, exercising, and just generally poking me with sticks. I wasn't very good, at all. But! One. They let me use a sword. Two. I got to "stab" Shaun. And three. They let me use a sword!!