TESTING!!!!

Hello all my dear friends and loved ones! I pray everyone is in good health.

Well, today was the day. Testing is finally here! I woke Aaron up just before 6:00 this morning. Aaron did his chores. We both got ready to leave. Wouldn't luck have it? I went outside, keys in hand, just to realize my vehicle was still hooked up to a trailer. I came back in to get Nathan's keys to drive his car instead. We have only 1 set of keys for his car. We could not find his keys, so after searching for his keys unsuccessfully, I came back in, got the keys to my vehicle while Aaron went and unhooked the trailer for me. What a sweet, sweet son!

I was worried since we were trying to leave by 6:30, it was 6:47. It takes a full hour to drive to the main dojo in Albuquerque. I was pleasantly surprised at what good time we made. We arrived at 7:25! We were supposed to be there around 7:45. And no...I was not speeding!

We were the first ones there (except for Sensei Nagatomo). We said good morning to him and he asked if all three of us were testing. I told him I was and that Aaron decided not to test today. He asked where Jordan was. I told him that Jordan and Nathan went to a 4-H Pheasant shoot.

Aaron and I walked upstairs and put our bags away in the dressing rooms. The brown belts had a brown belt training until 9:00. We focused on sparring. Everyone else who came for clinic, worked out until 10:45. Then we had a 15 minute break.

Testing started at 11:00. We had quite a few of our white belts who tested today. We had several yellow belts who tested, a green belt, a purple belt and a brown belt (me)!!! We all did very well. You can definitely tell a big difference who is from our dojo! We also had quite a few brown belts and a purple belt from our dojo come just to support those of us who were testing! What a testament of the character of the people at our dojo!

I stood up when Sensei Nagatomo called my name. I lined up on the first line. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to perform my last kata since I got a "B" on my last testing, but I didn't. So I got up and performed Bassai Dai. I did pretty well and didn't make any big mistakes or anything. I felt really good about it! Then we had to perform all the basic movements. I only missed one movement, but immediately corrected it. Then we did sparring. Sensei Nagatomo paired me up with a third degree brown who has already tested for a black belt. I did very well, but I did miss one of my blocks and she kicked me in the stomach. I was shocked. I thought I had moved enough out of the way, but apparently, not enough! I know that will hurt tomorrow! I enjoyed the experience of someone pushing me to my full potential!

After testing let out, the black belts met in Sensei Nagatomo's office to discuss testing results. They don't let anyone know the results for a couple of weeks. Senpai Susan (Mrs. Nagatomo) asked us to stay so we could show Sensei Aaron's whip that he made himself. They got out of their black belt meeting at 2:00. Aaron showed Sensei his whip and he loved it! They were both cracking whips. It was like watching two little boys in a candy shop! They got done playing with whips around 3:00 and something unexpected and exciting happened.

Sensei Nagatomo actually asked Aaron and I to go to lunch with him and his family! From what we have been told, Sensei NEVER combines his personal life with his karate life. I was totally shocked that they invited us. They even treated us to lunch. He is a very generous man. We had a blast visiting with him, his wife and two daughters. We were honored to be able to spend some time with them. We finally left to go home around 4:15.

I am tired, cold, sore and bruised...what an awesome day! I know I'm weird! Well, as I'm sitting here typing this, I am icing my shoulder, sitting next to a roaring fire Nathan just built. It doesn't get much better than this!

God speed my friends!