Day 6

Today is Dad’s birthday. If COVID hadn’t killed him, he would have been 75. It’s hard to believe that this is the fourth summer we’ve had to spend without him. Today is one of those days where the missing doesn’t seem to get any easier—especially since G3 has had so many accomplishments this week that we can’t share with him.

Today, I kicked off my season. I was extremely disappointed in how the forms competition went. The problem with forms is you are at the mercy of the judges and some are better—more experienced and knowledgeable—than others. I was scheduled to compete at 11:30, but didn’t start until 12:00. My ring was one of the last to go, and many people—judges included—had already left to go home. As a result, they were struggling to find enough judges for the rings. The other ring in my division had two fifth degree—or higher—judges. I had two third degrees—one of whom was very good, one of whom didn’t know what he was doing. In fact, the one who know what he was doing corrected the other guy who was the center judge several times. My third judge was a level one judge, which meant she wasn’t even supposed to be judging a black belt ring—I guess they were desperate. She also—when she introduced herself—said she was a first degree. She gave me an exceptionally low score. G3 did not agree with it. Anyway, I came in fourth which was really disappointing because I honestly thought I should have done better. G3 agreed. For the amount of money competitors paid to compete at this tournament, all the rings should have had quality judges, or at the very least, judges who knew what they were doing, ones who were actually qualified. Oh well! Life is not fair.

I lost in the first round of combat to the woman who came in first. G3 said I was too aggressive. I need to play more defensively. In sparring—what I’ve come to think of as my worse event, the one I have practiced the least—I came in second place. Originally, I wasn’t even going to compete in sparring, but Kati talked me into it. I’m glad she did or I would have left empty handed. As for the match I lost, G3 scolded me on that one as well. Again, I need to learn how to be more patient. Hold back, wait for my competitor to come to me. There is a great deal I need to work on and practice for the upcoming tournaments. It would also help if I were more flexible and could get my leg up higher—but that’s just genetics. Sadly, I didn’t get the stretchy gene—G3 got that from my brother. I will take the summer off, then return to the mat to practice harder come September.

After I competed we got in the car and drove north. We are here for the tournament but figured we would extend our stay for a couple of days to see, explore, and experience a little more of Arizona. En route, we saw a sign for Salt Mine Winery. There have been no presidents’ houses or battlefields, but after four days of competition in which Kati played the role of supportive spectator it only seemed fair that she get a winery. The tasting room was like sitting in someone’s living room with local art on the walls. The wine was good. Not the best we’ve ever had, but definitely better than the other Arizona winery we stopped at when we arrived.

When we got backed on the road we detoured onto the Red Rock Scenic Byway. The friends we ate dinner with on Thursday had recommended the detour and we’re glad they did. The scenery was gorgeous. We stopped periodically at the overlooks to take pictures of the vibrant red rocks. The red rock buttes are made from basalt, sandstone, and limestone. The bright crimson color is caused by ferrous oxide mixing with the sandstone. They look chiseled, sculpted, and I suppose they were. Millions of years ago, Sedona was covered in water. What is desert now, was sea back then. Once upon a time, the buttes were islands. They were sculpted first by water and then by wind—centuries of erosion creating the beautiful monoliths we see today. They reminded us of the Badlands in South Dakota.

We stopped in Sedona for dinner. It’s a cute town with the buttes in the distance and touristy souvenir shops lining the main road. We then continued north to Williams. It is much cooler here. It’s hot, but not oppressively so. After checking into our hotel, we strolled along Route 66 and wandered through the souvenir shops. Sometimes I wonder how some of these stores stay open—they all sell the same stuff and so much of it isn’t worth what the stores charge. While we were out, we got G3 an ice—which he opted for instead of ice cream.

I am now in bed. My left ankle hurts (irritated old injury), my left shoulder hurts (pulled muscle from moving boxes that we are packing), my thumb is throbbing (I sprained it sparring) and my hamstrings, and glutes are very sore from today. It’s like my body is trying to tell me something.