Our Judo Family

Reuben has been doing Judo as long as I've known him. In fact, our first meeting ever (when I first saw him and started recognizing him as the cute, tall, Asian guy at BYU) it was at a martial arts activity that was organized by him. He was trying to get the university martial arts clubs more involved and was president of the judo club at that time. I was a lowly white belt in the more dorky of the karate classes. By the time we met more personally in our PE class at BYU, he was a brown belt. One of his volunteering activities to beef up his resume even more was teaching the kids at a local elementary school martial arts, mostly Judo (because Judo doesn’t involve hitting or kicking each other, it is pretty good for little wild kids.) I went with him a few times and even saw the Asian New Year’s performance that he had choreographed a martial arts skit.

When we got married I continued to do some karate and even ventured on to Iaido (definitely not my thing), kickboxing, and kung fu. I never once went to his Judo practice with him. Then when I got pregnant and had to stop martial arts (stomach blows are not so good for the baby) I figured that doing any activities together of this sort (the sort where you have to get a babysitter multiple times a week) were history. And they were. Reuben has continued to go to Judo practice 2-3 times a week when not working for our entire marriage. That’s even after he reached his goal in Judo of a black belt- already three years ago. What Judo means in my life is that he leaves right after dinner 3 nights a week (for Monday and Thursday practices and Wednesday Scouts) and also every Saturday morning. Though it’s not really fun for me staying at home those nights and putting the kids to bed myself, I know that Judo is something that is important to him, (even though his old Judo injuries cause him pain and will continue to ache throughout his life!) Then I add unto these things watching boring Judo videos and mixed martial arts fighting at home several times a week.

Needless to say, I guess that Judo is something that has made me slightly displeased about in the past. It’s also something that I have never really enjoyed myself. Though I haven’t ever gone to one of Reuben’s practices I have fallen on the ground before and I don’t really like it much. That’s basically what Judo is all about- getting thrown on the ground or throwing other people on the ground. But regardless of my dislike of the bulk of the sport, I figure that I’ll get used to it. So I’ve started Judo with Reuben. Ariana is joining too. And we hope that we can just bring Corban and have him watch Baby Einstein in his stroller. At least it worked for half of the time on this last Saturday.