It’s hard to believe I started my journey into the martial arts nearly 30 years ago. Like just about everything else I’ve ever done in my life, my journey has hardly been typical. Most people take one of three different paths: They either try it and move on for one reason or another after they’ve advanced a couple of belts, they progress steadily through to their first degree black belt and decide that’s as far as they need to go, or they make martial arts a lifelong practice. I thought— scratch that, I was certain—that my path would be the third.  Instead, I took none of these paths.  I started training in martial arts in my hometown, La Grange, Texas....