Enthusiasm On A Saturday

Like too many mornings lately, I woke up in a bad mood.  The constant noise from workmen renovating apartments in my building annoyed me, and it wouldn't allow me to have some extra shut-eye.  A sense of sadness was present in me over Whitney Houston's funeral taking place today, which brought back memories of my youngest sister and paternal grandmother, both of whose deaths took place this month.  Other long standing irritations and frustrations began to gnaw at me as soon as my clock alarm went off.   I forced myself out of bed, remembering that Brandy and I had agreed to go to the Golden Gloves sign up today at Gordon Tech High School together.

Brandy's enthusiasm for the tournament helped to shake me out of my doldrums.  She and her boyfriend Nick drove to my house on time along with their adorable dog Biscuit.  We arrived at Gordon Tech to find a handful of people in line.  It was early in the morning; I suspected that most would trickle in later throughout the day.  Alan had told me he would go in tomorrow to renew his coach's license. 

Familiar faces manned the sign up tables including Sam, Tracy, Tina, and Rita.  All I had to do was write a check to renew my coach's license, and I was done.  Brandy had to fill out several forms, plus have her picture taken.  As the photo was being done, Sam commented to the official tournament photographer, "Now that's a million dollar smile!"  There were a lot of questions on the form that I didn't remember being on the boxers' form last year. One question asked if the boxer had taken up the sport to get away from gang banging.  Brandy couldn't believe that was on the form and we both found it funny.  "We laugh, but for some of these guys, that is the reason why they got into boxing," I said. 

Brandy mentioned that boxing had given her more confidence since she became involved in it.  As an example, she told of a situation at work where another co-worker had disrespected her.  She confronted them right then and there, something she didn't feel comfortable about doing in the past.  I could relate.  At previous jobs I had before the last job where I was laid off from, I had been somewhat of a doormat.  The sport helped me develop a backbone to stand up to the six years of nonsense that my former boss and some other co-workers there were constantly perpetrating and expecting me to sign off on. 

Looks like Brandy is the only participant in the tournament from the adult boxing program this year.  After weighing in, Brandy learned that she only has to come down five pounds to fit into a weight class.  I don't think it'll be hard for her to do.  I did suggest that she do some extra training outside of the gym, since we're only there two days a week.  "Cut the carbs, cut down on the bread and pasta, and if you're drinking pop, cut that out.  Eat more veggies and fruit," I said, thinking that I need to take that advice as well.