I Am....Grading

     I Am Grading. 

    Wow, even typing this, I get goose bumps. Three words, an infinite amount of feelings and emotions come pouring out. March 3 2014, my first class. Dec 3 2022, my Grading day. That is a total of 8 years 9 months and 1 day, or 3198 days or 4,605,120 minutes, or 276,307,200 seconds. That looks like both a lifetime to me and the blink of an eye to me at the same time. I remember sooo many individual moments that have helped define my journey but at the same time it all seems surreal. The amazing people I have met and trained with, too many to list but each and every one of them forever a kindred spirit, and a huge part of who I have become. 

    But who is that? That is what grading day will partially answer. That day I want forever more to be a black belt, not just get a black belt.

    I know grading day is just that, a day. It is not by any means an ending to my Kung Fu, but a sign post on my journey. I will continue training in Kung Fu because of the life it breathes into me. The humility, the empathy, the purpose, the discipline, the people who have become like family to me, Kung Fu is a part of my life until I am no more. As long as I am able, I will train, I will live the Kung Fu path. There is still so much to learn, I have only had a small peek into what the martial arts are truly about. 

    Yes achieving my black belt will forever change me, but every day I am alive, I am a different person than I was the day before, change is inevitable. I look forward to the responsibility that being a black belt brings, holding myself to a higher standard than I did the day before. 

            So December 3, 2022, I will give it everything I have. I will show who I am, good bad and ugly. By the end of that glorious day, I want to look back and say, "that was the most amazing day I have ever had". So if you can spare a second of time on that day, please send a positive thought or wish to your Silent River Kung Fu black belt candidates who are laying it all on the line, full throttle, exposing themselves to prove that they truly are black belts. 

    Thank you for reading.