It's working its magic

I swear, my life is going to be divided into BBB and ABB (before black belt and after black belt), because I'm telling you, that thing has magic powers. *I* don't have magic powers--IT does. But I get to wear it. So I'm just along for the ride.

Case in point: I'm in Canada right now with my family for a vacation. I had to take a redeye from LAX to New York on Saturday night, and without boring you with all the gory details, I somehow went from panicking that I wasn't going to get on the flight (despite the fact that I had a reserved seat and was at the airport 2 hours early--thanks, Mom and Dad for passing on the "overly anal-retentive traveler" gene) to sitting pretty in first class. Even though I have no empirical evidence to support my claim, I'm convinced that if I hadn't had the black belt in my carry-on bag, I'd still be at LAX trying desperately to get to the Great White North.

As it was, I got a hot towel, a free chicken dinner (winner winner!), a fully reclining chair with a real pillow and blanket, and the smug satisfaction of knowing that, if only for one transcontinental flight, I was better than the people behind the curtain, the people in that other class that rhymes with "roach." That knowledge kept me warmer than the blanket. And my seatmate was a very nice, Natalie Portman-lookalike from Zimbabwe who had been bumped from her previous flight and then upgraded too. So we laughed about how we wanted to get some sleep, but at the same time we wanted to stay awake to enjoy the first class-ness of it all.

I'm sure I'll have other examples of how the black belt makes my life easier. I just need to have it on me at all times. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying my trip and planning to train at Gracie Barra Niagara on Wednesday. More on all that later.