Keeping My Balance

I'm not talking about physical equilibrium here, like standing on one leg. I mean maintaining the right balance between family time and training time. This week family time won out.

Tuesday and Thursday are my normal training days in the morning; in addition, I train Friday night and Saturday morning, along with a couple of afternoons when I am not needed to assist with administrative tasks at the dojang. But this Tuesday I missed my class to be with my grandson at school; he had been asked to bring in his bagpipes and play them during the fifth grade chorus, which meets at the same time as my class. Because the pipes are not suitable for carrying on the school bus, I drove him to school and waited until he was finished so I could take them home. (Incidentally, the bagpipe demonstration went very well; even the principal came and listened.)

I planned to take the afternoon class that day, but Sa Bom Nim had other plans for me, so that didn't work out. I did get to my class Thurday, but only by the skin of my teeth: my husband and I had an unexpected opportunity to meet both of my sisters and their husbands for lunch at a restaurant about an hour's drive from my house. This is the first time in a long while that all three couples have managed to get together, so I really wanted to see them. But I also wanted to get to my class, and I figured that I could rush home afterward, shower, and get on the road in time to meet them about twelve-thirty. When I told my daughter about my plans, her response was an eye roll. "Oh, my God!" she said. "You really have to go to karate today?"

"No, I don't have to," I retorted. "But I missed Tuesday, and I don't want to miss two classes in a row." I didn't point out that I am, after all, entering the home stretch in the marathon leading up to my Black Belt testing.

Then tonight I had another choice to make. My grandson and I were both signed up for a Sparring Clinic at seven o'clock, and we had our regular Red Belt class beforehand at six. But the day before yesterday he came home from school with the news that there was a dance tonight that all his friends were going to, and he wanted to go too. (I must add that this would be his first experience of this kind, and Mommy was very excited about it.)

We had seen nothing in writing about this dance, so we spent most of yesterday trying to get details, and until this afternoon we still didn't know if registration was still open. My daughter planned to take him and pick him up, but she asked me to be available to step in if she should have to work late.

As the afternoon wore on, I began to feel more and more like a martyr. I called the karate school and explained that my grandson would not attend the Sparring Clinic and that I probably would not either. Nobody in my family (except my husband, after I pointed it out) seemed to notice that I was giving up something that I really wanted to do just so I could wait and see if my daughter would get home on time. As it turned out, she did. She drove my grandson to the dance and he had a great time.

After they left I felt sort of let down. I sat and watched TV for a couple of hours before I worked up the ambition to start cooking for the karate school picnic tomorrow. So I guess I wasted my time - but maybe it's not so bad to put my family first once in a while, even if they end up not needing me after all.