Standing on the Porch

It was just us girls yesterday in class, plus a very enthusiastic new blue sash who was briefly a yellow sash student of mine.  The upside of a four-person class is the personal attention, and the highlight of the day was that my girl is now officially about half a dozen moves away from knowing the entirety of 12 Kicks, the form that can make one a black sash.  She already knows what the remaining moves are, after watching the other members of the family execute that fast-paced minute thousands of times each, but she was taught the one move she was unclear on that connects to the later ones.  That made her bouncing-off-the-walls happy – and me along with her.

I remember those days, the elation at every milestone that put me a step closer to the end.  My knee problems, surgeries, and arthritis had me certain, for the longest time, that black sash was unattainable, that I should be happy to master my sword form, obtain a red sash and leave it at that.  But after I did just that, a little voice in my head said “Um, you’re standing on the porch; cross the damned threshold already!”

I saw that in my daughter’s face yesterday, a preteen who had to be pushed in kung fu every step of the way, for years on end, while repeatedly declining to quit when the option was offered.  She’s pushing herself now.  She’s asking to be taught more.  She’s bouncing off the walls waiting to cross the threshold.  And I love it!