As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Thursday, December 05, 2013

One Red Light and My Night Instantly Changed... Thursday, December 5

One phone call was all it took to put into motion a domino effect of others jumping on the phone, calling and texting each other.  And no sooner had Snickers made that call but then all our friends knew.

I didn't call anyone. I texted a good friend of mine in the States -- "Oh my gosh... we just got into a car accident! Crap!!!"

We would have been home in less than five minutes but a car blazing through a red light changed all that.  Thankfully we weren't driving one of our scooters -- the car we were driving was a friends.  It all happened in slow motion and we knew we were going to hit the other car.  I saw it enter the intersection and there was but a split second for Snickers to do anything. He slammed on the breaks but nothing happened.  We crashed into the side of the other car at full speed.  The breaks had failed but they wouldn't have saved us from crashing, they would have only slowed us down somewhat. Impact was inevitable.

Snickers got out of the car to talk to the other driver and to snap pictures for the insurance report.  There was no denying it, the other driver was at fault and he admitted it.  No sooner had Snickers got out of the car but then tow trucks swarmed the scene like seagulls. A taxi driver who saw the whole event go down rushed over to us to ask if we were ok and to give us his contact number as our witness.

I felt fine, physically, but mentally I was rather shaken up. 

I am finally at that point of my life where I can honestly say I am happy. I am so happy it scares me, how ironic does that sound?! Very! I've made a job out of what I am passionate about, I did it with the person I am passionate about, in the country I am also passionate about.  There is more in life I could wish for, like the dream house I have my eye on, but I feel somewhat selfish when I think of wishing for more when I already have more than O ever imagined. I have so much to be grateful for, I know this. I've worked my butt off to get to where I am in life, I know this too, but there are moments when realizing I am finally sincerely happy scares me.  Maybe I am scared that it's too good to be true, maybe I am scared it'll end before I get to really experience it, I don't know.  What I do know is that I want to die an old, old lady with sore knees from running, sore shoulders from excessive padwork with my Hulkies, and a head full of memories to share.  I want to be that old coach that talks about their past fights and fighters, pulls out pictures of their training days and wows the onlookers and listeners.  I want to have that great coaching story that cause others to roll their eyes at and say "not this story again" because I've told it a billion zillion times and it's become a club classic. 

I want my time to enjoy the life I now have because what I was living before can't even compare and I know this now. I want my time to inspire before I expire.  Situations like tonight freak me out because the fact of the matter is life can change in a second and it is that one second spooks me.

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