Birth

Rachel, one-hour old

I believe that it was the French author; novelist and poet, Victor Hugo that once said, "nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." For myself an idea had already been firmly planted in my head; May 18th 1986 was the day I would deliver. Please allow me  to tell you all about it.

It was a glorious spring afternoon and I'd arranged to visit my lovely wife Alison who was recuperating at our local hospital. It wasn’t because she was suffering with any specific ailment or affliction, but because she had recently given birth to our first child, a gorgeous 8lb 2oz baby girl named Rachel.

It was a warm hazy afternoon with a gentle wind blowing as we leisurely strolled around the grounds of the hospital. We talked and laughed about how fortunate Alison was to only endure a three-hour labour. The other funny-story was how I almost passed-out just moments before the birth, the midwife quietly informing me, "if you leave us now Mr. Ducker you'll miss it."

As we walked around the beautiful organised garden, I wanted to inform Alison about an idea that I'd recently been orchestrating in my mind. I had originally been planning to tell her long before this moment, but decided it might be best to wait a while. My thinking was that any sudden surprise or shock before the baby's birth date might cause undue stress to mother and child.

The moment felt right. I stopped, turned and looked at Alison. The sun was shining directly onto our faces. It felt like a magic moment, similar to scene out of an epic movie. I slowly turned into the sunlight and looked into my wife’s eyes. My words slowly immersed as I gradually spelt out my intentions. I told her….. "I'm going to open up my own Martial Art School."

After delivering the news I stood back and awaited Alison's response. I smiled nervously and eagerly awaited her reaction. I could see that she had a blank look on her face; my words were gradually filtering into the depths of her mind. It was only a matter of a few seconds before I received her reply.  "You can't we've just had a baby." she protested.

Despite her best efforts to make me see sense, Alison quietly knew, deep down inside that nothing or no one could hold me back from fulfilling my dream. It was certainly an idea whose time had come. From that moment onwards we both recognised that our first Martial Art School had just been born. 

It was a decision that would not only change our own lives forever, but inadvertently many other peoples lives as well.