A Couple More Things

I  want to say thank you to everyone that has helped me these past few months.  You have no idea what it means to me.  I have a chance to say thank you all the time to my husband, John and Arete, but not often enough to all of you.  You are not just helping a woman, me, get stronger, you are helping me to be stronger and that makes me a better mother, a better friend, a better member of society.  I have learned more about myself and self defense for sure, but in doing so I have gained the courage to stand up and take responsibility for my community, my government and my place in it.  It would have been easy to brush me off, but you didn't and you effected more than you know.  

Last night my phone dinged that ding that says, "new email" has arrived.  I checked and there was an email from a woman asking me about holsters.  I was at the pool, so I had time and answered it right then.  She sent one back and said she actually had sent that email months ago.  Strange.  So, if you sent me an email and I did not respond, it means I didn't get it. I apologize if that is the case.

Wanted to clarify a few things about training with Arete based on an email I got this morning.  We don't just go out that and hit each other.  He explains things to me first.  He will maybe set up a scenario like what if someone is going for your gun.  Currently he is a little annoyed with me because I was suppose to bring a blue gun to the last 2 sessions and I didn't, but lets not go there.  He will set up how they might do that, explain what my options are, then we go over that 2 or 3 times in slow motion, then faster and then we 'fight'.  When we fight, he mixes in everything he has taught me to that point and in theory, I apply said skills and overcome or if all else fails I just kick and punch and flail(interesting tid bit) until he lets me go or slams me on the ground. Also, if I am fighting him he will talk to me at the same time and say kick or punch or what are you suppose to be doing.  He comes at me and at the same time will ask me how many people are behind me.  He is training me to not just be focused on the one person in front of me and to be mindful of what is around me all the time even when I am engaged in something else.  Nothing like having fist coming at you and someone saying, "How many people are on the field"  "What color hat is on the 3rd guy from the left."  I used to think, are you fricken kidding me, I don't know.  Now, I can block a punch and answer at the same time and about 70% of the time I am right..  Sometimes I don't know so I lie(which is huge because before it never would of occurred to me to lie) hoping I can fool him.  Yesterday it worked.   He asked me how many people were on the field and I said none.  I had no idea, but I didn't remember seeing anyone when I first got there.  He said, "Nope,one", "Look", but when I turned around that person had walked off the field.  He said, "You got lucky"  Hey, a win is a win dude.

Yesterday, we did the "Hey, can I have your money deal."  I hate it.  I hate going back there.  Hate it.  So, without warning he starts walking towards me and says, "can I have some money".  I step back and say no.  He walks towards me and says, "Come on. just give me some money".  I walk back and to the left and say no.  I am aware there is a fence next to me and I don't want him to be able to get me backed up to it, so I walk the the other way.  He asks a few more times and I say no.  He rushes at me, but I move back and to the side, so he misses.  He tells me that was all good, but he asks me why didn't I give the commands I have learned when training with my gun.  Why didn't I say stop, get back?  Why didn't I draw my gun?  He tells me I need to do a better job of incorporating my gun training with his training. He also tells me my instincts to move are good.  That is a lesson I have learned well from John.  I don't ever stay in one place if someone comes at me.  I move immediately. I never stay in one place to reload or fix a malfunction.

A lot of the training is based on him simply grabbing my wrist and showing me how to get out of that, get some distance and draw.  He grabs my wrist nonstop.  My wrist are solid bruises because he grabs hard. Many times he will come at me and if I mess up he will say, what could you have done there?  The answer many times is, you got enough distance, go for your gun. At first if I couldn't remember exactly what he told me then I would close my eyes and make a huffing noise.  He does not like this.  We have gone from uncross your legs, you don't have good balance to open your eyes, how do you expect know what is going on. One time I blocked a punch but not how he taught me, so I closed my eyes and made the noise and he was like "what the heck".  "You blocked the punch that is the point who cares how".  "Trust yourself and also if you do that again I am coming after you".  I did do it again and he did come after me.  Guess what?? That was the last time I closed my eyes or huffed.

He is teaching me what to do in a real life attack and not just hey lets scrap.  There is a defined purpose and it isn't just ass kicking fun, although I think he thinks its a hoot to watch me flinch when he hits me, which I rarely do. 

Last thing, THANK YOU, truly, thank you.