The Run Through

Tuesday night Kohai had a run through for his upcoming Yonkyu test for Aikido. He's been working on this for some time now and I know the Hubs has been a little anxious about it. I have too to some extent. Let's face it, we all want our children to succeed in what ever they do.

I think every parent has been through that nail-biting moment when their kid has that big shot to make, solo to play, or test to ace. And we know they can do it because they've made that shot a 100 times in practice, they can play that solo forwards and backwards, and answer every practice question correctly.

But as parents some times we let a little doubt creep in. We don't mean to it's just that as adults we over think things, take too many things into consideration, and factor in all the myriad of possibilities that something will go wrong. We're too busy thinking what if, instead of just living in that moment the way our kids will do.

The Hubs and I have a hard time with over thinking things where Kohai is concerned because of his ADHD and autism. He has an uphill battle with staying focused and paying attention. There are days when he's in the zone and he will amaze you and you're like, "Yes!" It's there, you know he's got it, but then there are days that no matter what you do, you just cannot keep his focus.

That night it was a relatively small class with familiar faces for him, people he's trained with before and has a comfort with. It was a relaxed, easy going class and before the end it was announced that Kohai would have his run through now, but they would do so with formality. Formality? Is this the actual test without actually saying it's the test?

It was as a matter of fact, and he did so well that Sensei decided to give him the rank of Yonkyu. He was amazing.