finding balance

Last Wednesday, I meet Amy for lunch at Wok ‘n Roll. As we were catching up, I told her that I had signed up for a Tai Chi class at the Chinese Cultural Community Center. It is free and meets every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour. Since the CCCC is less than a block from my house, I was excited about the great price and location. But I was even more intrigued by what I was told about the class: one of the teachers is in his eighties.

When the meal came to a close, I grabbed one of the cookies off the plate and broke open my fortune. I just looked at it. It did not seem that great to me. But maybe that was a sign of what was to come.

I shared it with Amy. She exclaimed, “That’s perfect for you with your Tai Chi class tomorrow.” And she was right. Today was my third class with Mr. Pei and Jimmy Kay, who has been studing with Mr. Pei for several years now.

I was a little nervous about the first class. I arrived just as a meeting was breaking up at the CCCC. As people were leaving, I saw an older man standing in the corner of the room. The director told me that he was one of the teachers. I went over and introduced myself and told him that it was my first Tai Chi class. I believe that I asked him if it was going to all be in Chinese. He told me that his English was not very good but I could help teach him. He then proceeded to tell me that Tai Chi is a combination of American and Chinese culture. All I could do was stand there and smile. I know that I smile a lot. But by the end of this class, my face was hurting.