I was a very

competitive martial artist!  What started out as something to do with my son, became a compulsion.  I slept, ate and breathed karate.  If the kids didn't want to do karate they sat and watched us compete or they stayed home with my mom. It was something I was very good at. I became an instructor and got even deeper involved.  Then came problems with my shoulder.  I had injured it several years earlier in a motorcycle wreck.  It started dislocating at the drop of a hat, so I decided to have surgery.  My arm has not been the same since. It was after that surgery that I met my oldest son my another mother.lol..... I had retired from teaching when I got this call from a young man who said their instructor had walked out and would I be interested in taking the class.  I said I would think about it and decided that I would do it.  This young man turned out to be a weight lifter and somewhat apprehensive about being taught this sport by a woman.  Turns out I'm a good teacher and he and I became very close friends.  There was a time shortly after that, that my world seemed to fall apart.  My mom had a stroke, my unwed teenage daughter got pregnant, and depression came very close to getting the better of me.  If i could have figured out how to kill myself and it not look like suicide I would have done it.  Sensing that something was bad wrong this young man and his wife called me every day, sometimes twice a day.  If it hadn't been for the two of them I might not be here.  Faith in God, and good friends can make all the difference in the world. He is a couple of years older than my biological son and they tease about being brothers by other mothers.  The two of them are a trip!  I love them both.