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When I started Iai back in July of 2015, I had no idea what to expect.
I"d been out for a coffee with a friend who"d lived in Japan for 14 years, and mentioned to him in passing that I"d always wanted to learn how to wield a sword, but not in a combative sense. I have very poor eyesight, and even worse depth perception, so anything requiring either, is not in the cards for me. Fear not, kendoka and jodoka, you're free of me. He mentioned Iaido to me, which I"d never heard of before. I looked it up when I got home, was in my first class three days later, and haven't looked back. To be honest, I always assumed I"d end up having some medieval re-enactor teach me how to use a broadsword.
In all these months since, I think I've missed four classes in my home dojo - and one of them only because my sensei's sensei summoned me and a fellow student right before grading so he could see how we were doing. He teaches the same night, in a different city, and I can't fly, so there you are. I had to miss this week due to illness. It has become so much a part of my week, my life, that I cannot imagine my life without it. Missing class leaves me feeling a lot of off-kilter feelings. The week is not complete without class. I remember the first time I was handed an iaito, it was much like picking up a paintbrush (I'm an artist); I couldn't imagine why it hadn't been in my hand my entire life.
In conversation elsewhere, on something innocuous, with a group of other iaidoka, it suddenly hit me how many names are now familiar, how many faces I now recognise when I go to other dojos or events, and how there is (to me at least) a growing sense of belonging to something, a sense of camaraderie. I'm quite used to feeling isolated and outside of it, but that is not the case here - or is at least becoming not the case. It's still weird for me, getting used to the idea of being part of something. I suspect I'll feel ill at ease and surprised by it for a long while, but all things pass.
It's all good.