Freedom

I'm free...I'm free!
And freedom tastes of reality.

"I'm Free" from The Who's rock opera "Tommy"

1. Saw Dr. K this morning, restrictions are removed.
2. "Have a good life," he said.
3. Made a pact with him that we shall never meet again under these circumstances.
4. Got the above song stuck in my head.
5. Testing for my next belt tomorrow morning.
6. Sparring Monday night...

A memorial

6 days until my final (I pray!) visit with Dr. K, where I should be officially released from restrictions on activity.

One of my goals this Memorial Day Weekend is to clean house. Time to finally get the summer/winter clothes turned over, toss or donate items, and especially important--organize my office.

In one corner behind the door is a small plastic wash tub. When I did Triathlons, it was useful in competition for quickly washing sand stuck to my feet from running up a beach before putting on socks and biking shoes. Most recently it's been put to service holding G-Shaft and my old belts until Mrs. Shaft needed something to soak her feet in.

And so the various colored belts from white through red came tumbling down and are currently lying in a sad heap on the floor behind me.

You know, they really deserve better retirement than that, but there are so many of them I'm not sure what to do!!! Our advancement system has half-belts, referred to as stripes, between each solid color belt. So the order is:

• White
• Gold
• Gold - Green Stripe
• Green
• Green - Purple Stripe
• Purple
• Purple - Blue Stripe
• Blue (My current rank)
• Blue - Red Stripe
• Red
• Red - Brown Stripe (G-Shaft's current rank)
  
• Brown
• Brown - Black Stripe
• Brown - Double Black Stripe
• Black

So there are 17 of these dear, old friends, just waiting for a creative display.

I thought I might honor them with a vertical rack, and each belt would be hanging properly knotted in a nice array, kind of like a gun rack or sword display one might find in a hunting lodge. If I find a nice design, maybe I'll partner with one of the other parents I train with to sell a few to other students wanting to honor their history.

However, that's a lot of belts--so now I'm thinking of some kind of weaving. While a vertical rack shows progression, I think weaving them together shows the relevance of each belt's lessons to the next.

We'll try it this weekend and see how it looks.

What do you do with your old belts when you've been advanced?