Holy Warrior

Bren is such a conundrum: a fighter and a peace-maker. A warrior and a huggy-buggy. And this week, a Krav Maga specialist and a wedding officiant!

Bren went for his Level 3 belt test on Saturday, in Krav Maga (the martial art practiced by the Israeli special forces). This is a pretty bad-ass form of self-defense; you don't just defend against a blow... you defend, and then you go in for the kill, full-force. And you don't do it with gorgeous chi-inspired moves either. It's a whirlwind of ugly, masculine pows, crunches and whacks.

The tests are no joke either. I dropped Bren off at 2p on Saturday. He walked out of there at 1030pm. He had been fighting that entire time, with one 15-minute break. That's eight hours of full-out sparring, grappling, even headbutting! He smelled something awful, and his voice shook a little, but unlike previous years when he's walked into the house and collapsed on all fours, this time he was still surprisingly spry. He muscles started cramping once we got back to the house but his eyes were still strong and strangely exhilarated.

It is incredibly sexy. Heehee!

He has been sore for the past few days, limping and waddling his way around (not *as* sexy), but with a huge smile of pride and accomplishment. As usual, we took photos of his bruises. And as usual, the camera fails to convey how deep, wide and painful these bruises look in real life:






The day before the test, he married our friends Mike and Lira. They asked him to wear the kilt and it fit right in! I forgot my camera in my hurry, so here are some snaps I grabbed with my phone. Isn't he cute? (That's the groom on the right).




He was so nervous in the days leading up to this weekend, both about officiating the wedding, and about the belt test. After the wedding he said, "wow that was such a rush! Being up close to the action!".

Isn't he a geek?

We'll find out this week I think, whether or not he passed his belt test. I can't imagine that he didn't. Next up: Level 4, whose test lasts... TWO DAYS.

I thank my stars to be married to a guy with such opposite facets of his personality: both macho and sensitive-o. Just one or the other would be awful!

-x-
aarti