Karate Kid

She was a hot mess of nerves and excitement, swaying from one end of non-stop chatter to bouts of tensed up silence. With each passing mile that we drove, her sweet little hands grew clammier and clammier. 

Finally. We arrived at our destination. Her heart rate finally calmed after we registered her into the appropriate categories and events. Next came pure excitement.

She watched with growing excitement as her Sensei demonstrated some pretty sweet karate moves down on the main floor. 

Excitement morphed into awe and fascination as another Sensei broke boards with his fists, feet, elbows and his head.

Then, it was finally time for her to strut her stuff and compete. 

She punched as hard as she could. Then, she punched as fast as she could. And for each event she didn't place in.. she got a commemorative participation medal. 

Next, she kicked as hard as she could, and was only awarded with the participation medal again.

But in her last event, she kicked the fastest she has ever kicked. That size 13 foot shot out like a rocket at the metered block. And the anticipation over maybe getting a medal grew as each kid behind her kicked their fastest, too.

 Expecting to receive just another commemorative medal, she walked proudly to the awards table….. and was utterly shocked and dumbfounded to learn she had placed 1st in fastest kick!

Her smile lit up the entire gym as she ran with unbounded joy to show off her prize for kicking the fastest.

Way to go my cute little Karate Kid! You competed with grace, and accepted each medal with glee. While you would have loved to have placed first in each event, you showed wonderful humility and happiness no matter the size of the reward! It made my Mommy-heart so very happy to share this special day with you, to cheer you on, and to celebrate each medal rewarded.