As my daughter is getting ready for her black belt testing, I am reflecting on this very long, very intense, very strenuous martial arts journey.
It wasn't only her journey. The road has been long for the two of us. From the end of Kindergarten to fifth grade, it feels like she has been practicing TaeKwonDo forever.
She started TaekWondo by accident. It was June 21st, 2010. I was in the hospital, giving birth to a baby who had not survived. I knew almost noone in the village where we had just moved to. I found a friend who agreed to take care of my two daughters, despite her full time job. Gretchen agreed to babysit my kids for a few days. Her own daughter, Mademoiselle E's best friend, had a martial arts class. I had never heard of taekwondo. My daughter joined her. There, on June 21st, 2010, she broke her first board, with her fist. I received the video of her performance and it was the present of a first smile and the present of a new friendship.
Soon I realized Taekwondo would be beneficial for all of us. Never would I have thought of enrolling my children in martial arts. Growing up in Europe, I had in mind to enroll my daughters in dance or gymnastics and my sons in soccer. Soon, It became an addiction to sit at the back of the studio and watch my child learn martial arts in her beautiful white uniform. For 45 minutes, I could forget all the pain of my dead baby.
Time passed by. I was the proudest mother when she received her first belt: a yellow striped belt. At that time, I had no idea how many belts she would earn and I was eagerly waiting for her to receive her purple belt, her favorite color. Soon, but slowly she collected all possible colors and at one point, it became impossible to turn back or to stop.
Meanwhile, my second daughter started taekwondo too.
Meanwhile, we had another little baby, another son.
Life continued, life went on.
I often say to my friends that taekwondo is the very best thing I have done to my children. It teaches them perseverance and self-confidence. It teaches them hard work but in a fun environment. At first, I was amused by the military style of the classes, I smiled when the children would yell: YES SIR! NO SIR! I smiled when the master would bow to me and when my tiny daugthers would bow to me. Taekwondo was perfectly fun and serious.
It could have been any other martial arts or any other activity. That very sad day of June 2010, my good friend Gretchen could have brought my daughter to gymnastics or trampoline or guitar class. It happened to be taekwondo and it was the first good thing happening to me in that time of grief.
It has been a long journey. Sometimes she wanted to quit, sometimes, it was hard to fit martial arts in a busy schedule of homework, playtime, flute lessons, and family time. Sometimes, it was hard to drive them in snowstorms or heavy rain. Hard to leave the pool to go to taekwondo practice. Sometimes it has been hard to see her dancing rather than doing Taekwondo but I would reassure myself: after all, Taekwondo is an art form too.
But there has been one promise: once my children receive their black belt, they can stop.
And today, the day before she tests for her black belt, I am already proud and nervous but mainly very happy. Mademoiselle E. told me she wanted to continue taekwondo. She told me she would stop when she earns her third degree black belt. We will see if that's true but the fact she wants to continue tells me all these efforts were not vain.
Tomorrow will be a long day. She will have to run for two miles, do 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 1000 kicks (yes, one thousand), 1000 punches, 1000 jumping jacks. When all that will be done, she will not feel her legs and arms anymore and yet, she will have to prove she masters all her tapes, all the kicks, the stances, the blocks, the terminology. She will have to spar agains two older black belts. She might be in tears, I will probably be in tears. But Oh!, how much do I know it is so worth it.
The values she has learned will be a life long lesson. Really, truly, it has been an amazing journey.
