Meet Tom

Tom is currently the oldest member of our dojo. He started training about 2 years ago at the age of 53. It was his son Nathan's idea, really. Nathan was 25, and wanted to do karate. He talked Tom into starting as well, as a father-son bonding sort of thing. After the first two months, Nate's attendance became sporadic, only showing up about once a month. Tom eventually quit paying for Nathan, telling sensei "I'll just pay if he shows up." Nathan finally moved out of town and quit for good. He never made it past yellow belt.

I figured Tom would quit when Nathan quit coming, but he didn't. He still shows up faithfully and is now a purple belt--yon kyu. Tom is not the most co-ordinated student, nor the most flexible, but he works very hard at what he does. He has really improved over the last two years.

Tom is a professional musician who plays the saxophone. One day he brought his sax to class, and played a bit for us--at my request. I was learning Chinto at the time, and got a good workout to his music. Tom also rides a motorcycle. Not a Harley, but he looks like a bad daddy driving up on it anyway. Tom is very laid back in everything he does. He has the most unique accent. He talks real slow, even for here in the South, with an inflection that is absolutely impossible to describe. I'd never heard anyone else that talks quite like Tom.

He came to my black belt test, and brought his wife with him. He introduced me to her, and when she opened her mouth and spoke to me, I nearly fell on the floor. She talks just like Tom. No wonder they got married. They were made for each other.

Tom is cool.
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