What is it about Lions?

Over the last three days, I have had the privilege of performing 4 public lion dances. Why is that so important to me? Lion dancing was the thing that got made me the martial artist I am today. Let me explain. My son joined Kung Fu about a month before I did. I was taking him to classes in Onoway and would then watch the class until he was done. I figured if I was there, I might as well participate. My reason for joining back then were simple, it was something I could do with my son and I figured it was a great way to get some exercise. After about three years, Sifu Ryback brought some lions from Stony Plain and started to teach the Onoway students Lion Dancing. At first, I was not interested in doing this as I didn't want to look foolish or embarrass myself. We all were supposed to try it so I said I would go in the tail. I figured the tail was a little easier and less complicated. After a few classes, we didn't have many people who wanted to be in the head, so I volunteered to give it a try. It was frustrating at first because the head was all over the place and it seemed like I wouldn't be able to figure out how to do it. I don't really know why I stuck with it but I think it was because there didn't seem to be any other volunteers or maybe at this point I was starting to enjoy it and didn't see any other volunteers. Over the next while we practiced a lot more(Sifu Wiebe was the tail) and we became the Onoway team. Our first performance was not a public performance but a performance for Sifu Brinker as he had to okay our proficiency as Lion dancers. That first performance was the most stressful thing I had done in Kung Fu up to that point. We performed and although nerves were a little shaky, we got the okay. As soon as that performance was over, something changed for me. I got a big boost of confidence and I felt that Kung Fu and Lion Dancing were now part of who I was as a person. Every time I did a performance after that, the confidence with the lion kept growing and the connection to the school got stronger. Why do I bring this up? Its quite simple for me. These past 3 days has brought back so many fond memories and has also help reaffirm the importance of Kung Fu in my life. There is nothing like performing a Lion Dance in public and seeing it bring joy (and sometimes fear) to people. It is a hard thing to explain how it feels to me but the best way to describe it is it feels fulfilling. It was great to be out there again (2 years since the last one) and I cant wait for the next one.