I almost wrote the title of this blog post as "Merry Christmas". My brain may be a little tired today after a long weekend filled with training and libations...Friday began with finishing my packing. I had a chat with a nice older lady who lives in my building, then picked up a friend. We grabbed some food items and a gift for our beautiful Montreal hostess before heading out of town. The drive was an easy one and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. We reached our destination and it wasn't long before we were having a delicious meal with Black Forest Cupcake wine, St. Germain liqueur, and homemade Limoncello.
I had a little trouble sleeping on Friday. It's hard for me to sleep around other people and especially in strange beds.
Saturday brought an early rise, a quick shower, and a tasty breakfast before heading over to Concordia's Loyola campus to train. We had a brief break in the morning and lunch. Other than those, training was near constant with only short stoppages to listen instead of performing exercises and kata. Our warmup was over an hour long. We were all happy to reach dinner at Kanda where we gorged on sushi and sake. So much sake. Black & Gold from Gekkeikan is still my favourite thus far. After dinner, a group of us visited with the senseis while having tea and chocolate treats. I seem to be one of the few I know that don't yet own an iron tea set. Something to remedy in the future.
I slept excellently on Saturday and didn't wake up until 6:30 when I had to pee, but couldn't bring myself to move due to the protests of my upper body.
On Sunday we had a half day of training in the morning. I couldn't make it through the full period and watched from the sidelines as my shoulder and elbow couldn't handle the weight of my aluminum or my wooden sword anymore. I saw a lot of little things I have been doing wrong and I am going to work on correcting them.
Following training, we went back to our hostess' place for lunch and conversation before making our way back to Ottawa. But my weekend didn't end there.
Shortly before arriving in Ottawa, my friends asked me to come visit and play card games. I was happy to see them on this family day weekend and get to read their son a story. It was the perfect ending to the family weekend as I got to spend time with some of my martial arts family and one of my oldest friends and his family who are like my Ottawa family.
Robaxxacet helped loosen the knot in my shoulder and let me sleep pain-free.
Speaking of family, I didn't get to see my own this weekend. My aunt is very ill and expected to pass away at any time. She told my dad that she didn't care if he was at her funeral and wanted him to come see her before she passes because after she will just be a body. So my 73-year-old dad took a trip on the bus to see his sister. They thought it was best I not travel up there given that it is winter and it is an area of Northern Quebec best accessed by first traveling to North Bay as it is in the Temiscamingue region.
Now, I best call my mother because Family Day falls on her birthday this year. She is 74 today!
Salut,
R~