February was the Super Bowl. I don't follow football exactly, but I do enjoy watching it. But every year I celebrate the Super Bowl as if it were a holiday. I of course watched the Super Bowl every year but I consider when I first began my Super Bowl festivities in 2008 when the Giants won. Every year since then I used to have an event. 2009 I hosted a beautiful get together at a friend's house. Then in 2010 at my apartment we had a huge Macaroni Sunday with LOTS of food for Super Bowl.
But in 2011, a horrible day I still remember to this day occurred. It's been labeled the Sorrow Bowl. It's amazing how certain events shape things that come to our lives later on. 2012 I still had a few people over but it was a sad and difficult time. But it got better the next year in 2013, and we went to Ara and Juneta's who hosted in 2014. So I usually celebrated Super Bowl with someone, but when I touched base with that person I realized it was more important to me than this person. I wasn't even a thought in any plans. 2014 was a year full of things breaking and things ending, so I decided I'll let go of the attachment my self.
I made no plans, so Ara and I invited a bunch of my students and friends over to watch the Super Bowl. We watched the game, had some laughs, ate food, shared stories, we had a beautiful time together. At one point we were showing pictures to each other and that morning I had found an old picture of Sifu. He looked JUST like my original master I once trained under. I brought it up on my phone and I turned to say to someone "Look at this, who does this look like?!" But then I stopped.
I looked around. I turned and I got quiet for a minute. I just realized in that very moment as I looked around: there was NO ONE from that time present at this moment. NO ONE here knows my old master, never met him, don't even know what he looks like. I couldn't believe it. Every person who was there that night was a person of the NEW generation. I could not believe it.
I had a mix of feelings in that moment. One was sad that there was no one from the old days there. It almost hurt me because I felt like there was no one actively in my life that linked me to a past that was so important to me. There was no one there I could say "remember when..." On the flip side I was also very shocked. Shocked that I can't believe how far I have come from that time. Wasn't it just yesterday that time? And the time I was so happy after that?
People say this all the time, but time just flies by in a blink of an eye. You can never keep track of where the time has gone. You find yourself in a whole new world. How did I get here all of a sudden? But I shouldn't question it. Because another feeling I had was once again gratitude. I was very grateful to be with this new crew. This new energy. These are grown adults who get "it", mature and have values, level headed, fun spirited, and loyal. Loyal beyond words. It's new. It's different. I don't know how to feel about that.
But I learned last year to JUST BE. So I did. And guess what? I was very happy. I was very happy to be with these people. I think it was in that moment I realized how far old times have gotten from me, and new times were being made. It was a real eye opener. (BOWS)
Yours in service,
MASTER A TRENTO
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