Leaps Forward

Apparently, the work has been paying off.

Much to my surprise, at the end of class Wednesday, I was called up by the Coach and the Coach's Coach to receive a stripe.  GirlCoach was downstairs teaching kids, and there was some speculation that she would be pissed that they did it without her, but I was fine with the timing of it. I was having a really good night - hell, I was having a really good week, and those are hard to come by.  Getting promoted on an "up" phase is awesome, and you never know how long those phases will last.  I have no idea if they promoted me because they noticed the change or not, but I'll take it.

It was a big week overall at our gym - on Saturday, the Coach and GirlCoach both received their black belts.  While it takes 3-4 years to get a black belt in my other style, a BJJ black belt takes about 10-12 years.  So, huge accomplishment for this amazing couple (who already both have black belts in Judo).  They are an amazing inspiration to all - especially my GirlCoach, who is the only female BJJ black belt in our part of the state.  Watching her regularly handle bigger, stronger opponents with ease gives me hope that someday I'll develop the technique to make up for my own lack of size and strength.

The next day, we had a news crew visit our women's class and report on our self-defense program in general.  Nice to get the media attention, and good to be involved in such an important effort.  GirlCoach is away today and will still be away Tuesday, so I'll be covering both women's classes for her.  Grateful for the opportunities I get to teach there, and for the trust they put in me.

In other news, Middle has officially chosen to go to Penn State, and he's leaving in June.  Very, very excited for him, but wow, it's going to be weird not having him here this summer.  Needless to say, I'm taking as many hours as I can at work, with the goal of having him graduate with as little debt as possible.

Between work and training, life is busy.  Good busy, happy busy.

Enough writing.  Off to teach some badass BJJ to some awesome women.

:D