While looking back through some dojo photos for one of Levi to give his younger brother (another former student) at the wake, I came across this picture I took after youth promotions three years ago:
Levi is on the bottom row - second from the left. Of the 29 folks pictured - minus Sensei F - only 12 are still training. That includes some of the black belts lined up in the back.
Many folks I've trained with over the years have had to step away from the dojo at some point or other - some for a little while, some for a little while longer. Some have come back, but a whole lot have not. You miss them for a minute, but then months pass and you sort of forget that you used to see them on a regular. They get busy, you get busy and, well, life happens. Before you know it, you find yourself pointing to them in an old photo saying "Hey, what ever happened to...?"
Kinda sad, really...
Felicia, that's a real tragedy for that boy and his family, I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange how friends and acquaintances come and go out of our lives. Photos often poignantly remind us of past friends that we forgot we knew. My husband and I get that feeling when we look at our wedding photos and realise how many people have either died (mainly elderly relatives) or we just don't know any more! It's bizzare, we once knew these people well enough to invite to our wedding! Life is strange.
So sad...a terrible tragedy.
ReplyDeleteTwo of our students were killed by their father. The parents were going through an ugly divorce. On the father's first unsupervised visit, he killed his children and then himself. That was ten years ago and it still affects the dojo.
We have boxes of photos from the early days of the dojo. My husband took pictures at every promotion ceremony. Some of the faces I remember...some I do not. It is sad because they pass through and are part of a community and then just disappear.