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Room for One More
By Randy Carrasco
Perhaps some of the most heart-warming moments in life are those
in which the glory of family is experienced. Growing up as the youngest
member of a 15-sibling family, I learned early in life that in family,
there was ALWAYS “room for one more”. This principle
applied not only to relatives, but to any friends who happened to
show up at the Carrasco house during mealtime or just before a family
surfing trip. Events surrounding the 2008 Camp Kokua presented some
of these wonderful moments for Sensei Ramon Gallegos, my family,
me, and for sure, many others. Here is a story about one of those
moments.
A few days before Camp Kokua 2008, a special Shingen No Maki clinic
was given by the AJI. Why was this class special? Prior to the 2008
class the last one was held at Ohana 2007. According to AJI history,
there had never been back-to-back Shingen No Maki classes. And I
have heard the next class will not be held until several years have
passed. Side note: If you get the chance to take this class- do
not hesitate… JUMP ON IT!
Sensei Ramon missed the Ohana 2007 Shingen No Maki class. Why? This
class was scheduled for the same day as his first day teaching a
technical college course. As his Kaito Gakko dojo classmates, Sensei
Lee Firestone and I shared Ramon’s disappointment that he
would not be joining us in the Shingen class.
Eventually, rays of light popped through the gray clouds when we
learned that there would be a 2008 Shingen No Maki class. Ramon
checked his schedule and it was clear! We were happy for Ramon.
It was a good thing that on the morning of the 2008 Shingen No Maki
class, Ramon emailed me to confirm that I was going. In the email
thread that followed, I learned that he had a rather “strange”
night (complete with EARLY AM “cat-burglar” false alarm-
a whole other story) and he didn’t get much sleep. In spite
of all this, he remained determined to go to the class. His plan
was to pick up his gi at home and ride his bike to the class. I
live close to Ramon and I suggested that we go together; he accepted.
Since this was my first time driving to his new place, I got lost.
I called his cell phone. No answer. I called Professor Carlos Gallegos
(Ramon’s dad) and he got me back on track. Finally, I found
Ramon’s house and found him walking around outside in a bicycling
outfit, complete with clipless shoes & helmet. He was not in
the best mood of his life. In his rush to get out of his house this
morning, while half asleep, he had forgotten his keys, wallet, and
cell phone and they were now locked in house while he was locked
out. No wonder he didn’t answer his phone! He made attempts
to break in… all to no avail, for he had burglary-proofed
his home after the last time he had to break in (a whole other story
as well). Time was ticking and we now had less than a half-hour
to get to the Shingen class. Ramon reasoned that the dire situation
meant missing the class; he was sweaty, had no gi, no belt, no shoes,
no place to lock his bike, and he didn’t want to hold me up
any longer. Professor Carlos and I were convinced that it was Ramon’s
destiny to be in this class. Ramon’s dad was ready to drop
whatever he was doing and bring him a gi & belt. I threw the
bike in my car and we drove back to my house to grab an extra gi
and spare belt. Fortunately, I had my cell phone and my wife, Minnie
was home. I called my wife and while we sped back to my pad, she
quickly gathered up a spare gi, belt, some street clothes, and a
pair of sandals for Ramon. We arrived, he changed clothes and finally,
we were racing down to the 2008 Shingen No Maki class! I called
Professor Daniel Saragosa and told him that we were running late
and flying down the freeway. He reassured me that everything was
going to be OK. Ramon and I arrived to the class (albeit a little
late) and we found everyone waiting patiently... nobody appeared
the slightest bit upset with us… Of course! … This was
family! …and there was “room for one more.”
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