Karate Yes or Karate No

Yesterday a friend of the school who did Karate performed with us on stage, much to the confusion of some of our students who didn't know. I noticed him and was given the okay on him all through eye contact communication. But I'm digressing from my point.
My neighbor did Karate a long time ago and I thought I would invite to perform at other events if he felt like it. Just for fun.
It turns out when he stopped he made a decision to seriously stop and that was it. That to do it again now would be like making fun of an old flame, like cheating on her or mocking her.
As I talked with him more I realized that he still did some things, like stance work and meditation, but that he could not consider that Practicing. I do consider this practicing  (sort of) and in fact that was a period of time when the children were small when that is all I was doing as well.
But I also know that when my Sifu did movements in a circle practicing internal he would consider this exercising for one's health, but not practicing. In fact he would also always say that he hadn't practiced for several decades.  He did not count telling stories, or demonstrating on people, or even hopping in on basics as really practicing.

I noticed that a lot of people who were really good, like bad ass good, kicking people's ass good in a superhuman way, usually stopped practicing in their old age. And the old men that I know who are still quite active Kung Fu wise, always did it more for fun or how do I put this without sounding like a Kung Fu snob. The point is, the level was different.

As for me, I don't think I will stop. My Kung Fu just changed when I had kids. But I know what my neighbor is talking about. And he was the only person who ever actually verbalized such a thing to me. My Sifu or his students that no longer practice did not talk to me about it. Partly because there could be a language barrier, partly because, well maybe it is a difficult thing to talk about.

My neighbor mentioned how he felt that he was living in a parallel world, not in reality. I don't think this was the issue for my Si Hing's. But I do know that they practiced really hard. Harder than I have ever practiced. So if they were to decide to try and practice again, it would not be, slowly moving into it, moving around the way I do. They would associate practice with the way they used to practice. The hard bad ass type of stuff that I have never actually been through.

But I can sympathize with the parallel world thing, and that hard training too. I realized that ever moment in my training I was never completely absorbed in KUng Fu KUng Fu. I was at Boarding School in Groton, then I was in College. Then even when I was living at Moh Goon, I still had a job, and even when I was Kung Fu-ing, I wasn't just practicing. I was teaching kids, treating patients and thinking about the business side of it too. I was never completely isolated on the mountain as it were. But I also had a moment when my Kung Fu had to take a back seat, and my real Kung Fu, the raising of my kids began. I mad my Kung Fu adapt to the situation instead of giving it up completely, which I knew a lot of people thought I would do.
Some people were actually shocked when they heard I wasn't "active" as in working out at the Kung Fu school anymore, Probably because I didn't stop that after my first son was born. But with two... it had to change. My work out space became playgrounds and parks. And "My Time" became classes that I taught with my children in mind. This didn't happen overnight. There was an evolution, of workouts to classes for older kids, to work outs for younger kids, and even younger kids.
And in a way, the way I approach Kung Fu now is perhaps a completely different animal than the Kung Fu I once trained. Or at least a completely different worldview. But instead of a different mountain, it is just a different view of it. It's still Kung Fu.