Hiiiii-Ya!

Hiiiii-Ya

Hiiiii-Ya! Explodes into my ear nano seconds after a three foot Ninja gives me a body slam across my back!
Hiiiii-Ya is my grand kids adopted Asian battle cry when battling with the giant intruder....me. No warning is given like 'Grandpa look over here! Grandpa pay attention! Grandpa here I come, Grandpa get ready! Protect your swimsuit area!' There's no 1...2...3 it's just some physical discomfort, followed by a loud Hiiiii-Ya!
I've have the pleasure of being some sort of evil force to four (five if you count the wife) Ninja grand kids. Ages range from 7 - 2/12. Two girls, twin boys. Each with their own fighting style. The oldest, Gabriella, hangs on the outside and circles. Darting in and out with a pretend Japanese fighting stick (that she somehow obtained from Moulan of Disney) she delicately annihilates with tentative strikes. All while the 4yr. old, Charlotte, reins full body blows. The couch is her favorite launch area. From an elevated bounce she flattens the fiery dragon. The then pancaked dragon is kicked, punched and on occasion bitten. Never turn your back on this one! The twins, Peyton and Emmett, just sort of ooze on you, as might a very runny dough. A dough that leaves slug trails from runny noses that seem to know no limits.
It becomes a sea of arms, legs, sticks, swords, spears, bow-n-arrows that I have to carefully direct. Because, if heads are bumped....Ninjas cry. Game over. Too bad James Bond didn't know that.
It's been written the most precious thing around ones neck is not pearls or gold, but that of the arms of a grandchild. Arms that try to squeeze the last dying breath from the evil intruder. Arms that, without hesitation, grab hold and cling tight to a giant trying to get free. Arms that attack a balding overweight dragon that tries to rise but's held down. Arms that will all too soon get longer with fingers that will learn to write. Fingers, painted and decorated in jewelry that will hold on strong to, as yet, an unknown hero.
Arms and hands that will become tentative as the giant, the dragon and evil intruder wrinkle and stoop with age. As the wings and now weakening claws of a once fearsome foe fail, young conquerors take notice of the unfairness age has on the body.
Peace will fall on the kingdom. No more battles to fight. Hiiiii-Ya, now silent from magical valleys and couch tops. The effects of age in all it's ugliness triumphs fortunate youth.
Time is hard on old grandpa........but the memories can't be beat!


Bob Niles