1. Have Fun!
2. Do your best!
That is it. That is the extent of my expectations for him.
While today was a bit of a challenge. He was in a ring where he was outsized by a literal sixty pounds. I didn't think that there was any way that he would do well, and as I stood there and watched the kids get assigned to rings, I had in my mind, that there was no way that he was going to go up against these bigger kids. We had discussed previously, that in order for him to compete in these categories, that Mom has the right to pull him out and have him forfeit if I thought he could get hurt.
Well, as I stood there praying for guidance, one of the high ranking Senior Masters, pulled my Munchkin and stood him next to the biggest kid and took a picture and sent it to headquarters. I didn't really know what was happening, but she asked Munchkin where his parents were. He said that Daddy was dead, but Mommy was right there and pointed at me.
She walked over to me and said that she had requested a split ring based on size and that headquarters had agreed. She was extremely gracious and nice and I was thankful. Munchkin would not be walloped on by gargantuan 8 year olds (he is a very small 6!)
Senior Master was available around our ring and watched a few of the kids. I thought it a bit unusual. The high ranks generally watch and judge the other higher ranks, not the kids color belts. At the end of his competition, I thanked her and we made some small talk. And when I say high rank, this wonderful woman, is an extremely high rank!
She asked me if he was an only child-I said yes. She then told me that her father died when she and her brother were little. Her mother was widowed at 29 years old. I was floored. She went on to share some of her story with me and I had tears in my eyes. At one point she told me that she believes that it takes a village and at that moment Munchkin's teacher and my dear friend walked up.
I was engaged and fighting tears speaking to Senior Master, but handed her Munchkin's results slips and she was congratulating him. Senior Master asked me who he studied with and I reached for our instructor and gave her a hug. I told her, that we have a phenomenal family in our school and I felt very lucky. Senior Master went on to tell me how wonderful our instructor is.
This completely random encounter has left such an impression on me today. Someone whom I have never met, took the time to share her story and not only that, share how perfectly fine she and her brother are and that her mom was remarried and happy. Her words gave credence to the fact that kids can turn out okay in spite of the circumstances that the universe dumps on them.
She did share that he mom remarried after she and her brother were off to college, but she personally felt that she had wasted a lot of years. I told her that my belief is that if God has planned for someone else to be in our lives, then He will put them there. She said she would pray for us.
It feels as if the world had given me an affirmation at a time when I really needed to hear it. Our instructor looked at me with tears in her eyes and told me how proud she knows that Robert must be.
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