Let me ask you all a question: When a
huge part of your life, something you've spent more time a part of
than anything previous in your world...ends...what do you do? How do
you deal?
At our dojo, we deal by being
ourselves: random, nerdy, and violent.
Two weeks ago, we all got some very sad
news. The Kojokan Samurai Dojo will be closing at the end of the
month. There are too many feelings about it to fully explain, but the
loss of everything the dojo was will be hard on a lot of us. So, in
the little time we have left, we've been doing all sorts of things to
have as much fun as we possibly can. Like teaching our newest
students our most complicated kata, using two bokken for sparring,
even using stage combat blades to do black-belt level sparring
forms!!
And, speaking of black-belts...I will
be testing for mine this week O.o I was supposed to be doing so in
the fall anyway, so I'm fairly well prepared for it. I'm also
incredibly grateful to my instructors for believing that I'm good
enough at it, and giving me the opportunity to take this test before
the doors close.
Once it's all over, though, and we tear
everything down, I'm not really sure what I'll do. I'll probably
continue to train on my own, using what I know. I'm even planning on
trying to teach one of the newer students! Beyond that, I'm going to
have a lot of free time on my hands. Probably a good thing for now,
if I'm honest. I can work more when I'm home, and won't feel guilty
if I miss class due to being away for a weekend.
...I also won't have to feel guilty for
skipping Tuesday night class to watch Supernatural when it returns in
the fall :)
But, even with all these plans, and
with the understanding of why it's happening, I still feel a little
lost. I've been training there for three years, and been associated
with the dojo for five...my, how time flies. It's been a gigantic
part of my everyday life, and a driving force in keeping me going
and moving forward the last few years. It helps immensely that I'll
still have the friends I've made there, from a few of the students to
Michael and Alex, and, of course, the best friends I've ever had, Dan
and Jill.
All in all, I'm extremely sad to see
the dojo close, but the spirit of it will live on in all the lives it
has touched. So, for all that the Kojokan Samurai Dojo has given us,
there's only one thing left to say:
Domo arigato gozaimasu.
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