We Finally Did It!!!

Ahhhh, yes!!! I can sit back and breathe again. I finally did it! I got my black belt. What a great feeling to have accomplished such a task. I have been training for this for almost 5 (long) years. Many injuries and tests later, the day came.

It's funny how for all this time I have just been going to classes, working out. No biggie right! Well then as it approached, it was getting serious. I kept thinking..."WOW, it's around the corner". And boom, bam, smack! It was here. The four months of training for the test itself, were like a month instead. I kept saying that I have plenty of time, it's four months. Yeah, right! No!!!! It went faster than I could blink. In fact, at one point, we were asked where we were. We kept skipping classes thinking it was no biggie. Well, apparently, our attendance was important in order to test for black belt. Duh, I knew that, but like I said time flew by and I didn't realize how many classes we missed.

Fast forward to two weeks prior. We did some serious working out and practice on our forms. Which...we had to learn four of. Yes, four! OMG!!! I only really knew two of them, my color belt form and Songham 1. Shit!!! I have lots of practice to do in two weeks. So, J and I busted out with the badness. Full gear in practice mode, well at least for us! LOL With the help of Sam, who also got his black belt. Oh, I didn't mention who did I? Well, side note...Me, Jason and Sam got our BB. Ok, so where was I? Oh yeah...

Testing day arrives. We have practiced and practiced till we are blue in the face and all our forms seemed like one long one. Which is really how it ended up being, one long one, in three phases. Man, I was sooo nervous! I could have filled a gallon jug with how much I was sweating. Then, they called J and I up to do our first three forms. Side by side, just the two of us. Jesse called us the "Wonder Twins" LOL Was that supposed to calm us down? No, now I am freaking out more. Let's bring more attention to us. So, the form...what??? We killed it! Better than we have ever done in class or anywhere else for that matter. I know I was amazed at how well I did. I was focused on exactly what I was there to do. We sat down, waited some time for the other testers to complete their forms and then our turn again. Now this time, side by side, we did our form for our belt rank. Rocked it again! I did stutter for a split second, ahh! No one noticed, I hope. LOL We finished! We did it with our forms. Soon to sparring and board breaking!!!!

Sparring as always was fun and really...not to much of a challenge. It is free sparring so you pretty much just make it look good for the judges. Easy enough! Board breaking was next on the agenda for the soon to be black belts. I was super excited about this for sure. I hadn't practiced but once, but I guess Jesse thought that was enough. We first had to ask permission when it was our turn to break, . We only had three tries to break two boards. Not a problem!! I love breaking boards. My turn. I get up, set up my boards, bow and viola! KIHAP!!!! First break was a forward elbow, second one a jump front kick. Like butter!!! The testing wrapped up and we had done it!!! J gave me big hugs. I knew he was excited, deep down!! hehe Brat!!!! Love you bro!

A few more days pass and it is now ceremony time. Again I was nervous. Now I had to deliver a speech...ewww I don't like this at all. When we get to the school, Master Isaac's calls us into the office. The talk with Master Isaacs settled me down...a little. He told us to sit back, relax and enjoy this moment. "This is just the beginning", he told us. He explained to us how we were to walk out and the process for the ceremony. We all had speeches and gold coins in hand, ready to accept the honor of a black belt. The round of applause was so amazing. What a moment!! At that moment I took a deep breath and realized "I DID IT" How awesome!!!

When it was our turn, we went up to accept our belts. The three of us went up as a family. There were actually three families of three. This was a record for IMA, not only for the families that were getting their belts, but also for the amount of students receiving belts at once. There were 15 of us! Woohooo!! After the belts we sat down. When called again, we got up to give Master Isaac's the gold coins and then our speeches, again as a family. I went first, Jason and finally Sam.

DONE!!!!!!

I am now proud to say that I am a Black Belt in Taekwondo!!!!!!

Now I can't wait for my youngest, Max, in October. Shortly after that will be my niece, Jasmine (who kicks ass) and finally my nephew, Jonathan (who also kicks ass)!!!! Hey....we all KICK ASS!!!!!