Four years later, I'm a brown belt, my knees and feet don't hurt anymore, I'm not overweight, and the hiatal hernia hasn't reared its ugly head in months and months. I've made many many decisions over the years, some good, some bad. The one I made four years ago today was definitely one of the good ones. I went looking for exercise -- I found another home.
So to Kyoshi Paul and all the students, past and present, child and adult: thank you. You have not only enriched my body, but also enriched my spirit.
Edited to add: To the anonymous poster who put in the five comments in kanji characters -- your post were deleted for the simple reason that they can't be read, and they felt spammy. IF I was in error, I apologize, but while I have no problem with any folks posting here who want to, I do rather insist that they do so in a language (and alphabet) that I know....