The following is a true account of the events that took place during Full Speed’s black belt graduation.
Full Speed brought his ‘A’ game. His punches and kicks were on fire.
His black belt form was crisp and precise.
He did take a beating during sparring. So much in fact T.Puzzle turned to me and said, “Full Speed sure is getting a beat-down.” True, this is all true.
Fortunately part of the black belt spirit is persevering even when you want to give up. Full Speed pulled it together and his nunchuk demo was fierce.
Then it was time for the belt ceremony. I mean this is the big time, right? This is what it all comes down to, this one, bright shining moment and…
guess who needed to go potty right then?
Little T.Puzzle. Oh, dear sweet T.Puzzle, how I love you so and your extremely inconvenient potty moments.
Mad Dog says, “He’s five, send him on his own. He can do it.”
My Mommy Instinct reached a five-alarm status but I didn’t want to miss a minute of the black belt ceremony. I squashed down my doubt and reluctantly sent him on his way.
An eternity passes and I insist, “Mad Dog, go check on T.Puzzle.” My tone was not necessarily pleasant and seemed to adequately convey my dismay (a.k.a.-Mom was about to lose her mind).
Guess who had locked themselves in the bathroom and was reaching a complete meltdown status?
Strike two for T.Puzzle.
This is where my life flashed before my eyes and I gave up hope that we could celebrate Full Speed’s achievement together (or that anything in my life with these two boys will ever go as I plan them in my head).
However, we didn’t give up. We all kept our black belt attitudes and Mad Dog calmly coached a hysterical T.Puzzle through the unlocking process (thankfully, there was so much noise in the studio, the near Great Bathroom Disaster of 2011 went largely undetected).
The ceremony was saved, Full Speed’s black belt rewarded and T.Puzzle lived to see the light of day again.
