he dreams about karate

quinn woke up thursday morning, after his first two nights of karate class, and his first words were, “in my dreams, i had 8 tips on my belt! it was because i had two tests, and each test was for four things.” i asked which belt he had gotten the 8 tips on, and he said his white belt. after both classes, he stayed and watched the upper level students practice, as well as absorbing the contents of the dojo. the student creed printed on the wall, the order of the belt colors, which belts have varying degrees, the information about getting tips on your belt as you lead up to the next belt.

the head instructor told him after the second class we had stayed to watch that he noticed him hanging around, and i said, “well, he just started and he’s just so excited to be here, he keeps wanting to stay and watch.” mr. c spoke to quinn again, and said, “oh, so you’re going to be a motivated student, huh?”

quinn asked me later what motivated meant. he agreed that mr. c was right, he is motivated. it is so perfect how this came up, and at just the right time for him. he grins throughout the entire class. he is all in, and taking complete ownership, because goodness knows it has nothing to do with me. it must be like when my family of history loving pro sports fans scratched their heads and sent me off onto a tall ship. this is all quinn, completely of his choosing and desire.

because it means so much to him, he is also maxing out his neurons to incorporate this new activity into his life, which of course has manifested as a few meltdowns. i imagine that will be mighty brief in comparison to the long term satisfaction he stands to gain from this new endeavor.

one of the other teachers at ols asked quinn the day after his first karate class how it had been (because his teachers and classmates all knew, thanks to his “tell” about it during show-and-tell, and were extra supportive) and quinn’s response was, “oh man, it was like, the best thing i’ve ever seen!”

that goes for me, too!