The First Deadly Sin

Some call it vanity, but it's often called PRIDE.  When that pride is in one's abilities, that becomes a sin.  I hope I don't suffer from that too much, but I do have pride and lots of it.  I'm proud of my military service, proud of my Green Bay Packers (despite the last couple seasons), and extremely proud of my son. 

I give my wife most of the credit for his upbringing.  She has worked wonders with him, but I choked up a little today...almost got a tear in my eye when I watched him test for his first belt in Tae Kwon Do.  Earlier in the week, I wasn't sure if he was ready.  I didn't want him to fail though, so we spent extra time together going over his form, memorizing his Korean words, stretching, and perfecting his kicks.  Work took me away from practice the last couple days prior to the test, so I didn't get a chance to see how much he improved. 

I'm not sure who was more nervous, him or me.  He was stretching before I even woke up.  My wife had to work, so it was up to me to make sure he was ready to go.  I made him shower and wash his hair, while I made him my special waffles.  He asked me to quiz him on his Student Oath, the Tennants of Tae Kwon Do, and all his Korean terms.  He had them all nearly perfect. 

The time was getting close, and I was starting to feel the stress.  I had to hand feed our new rescue kittens before spending the next couple hours or so away from home.  With that 'chore' finally finished we headed off to the TKD Academy. 

We arrived early, but it didn't take long for his test time to arrive.  During his dynamic stretching, he kicked higher than I had ever seen him.  I could see and almost feel his intensity all the way from the sidelines.  I thought he was going to hurt himself before the actual testing began.  As soon as it started, I nervously watched his every move.  Was he snapping each block?  Sticking each kick?  Were his ke-haps loud enough?  It didn't take long to notice that he was doing better than I had ever seen him.  He was doing better than most of the ones around him. 

I was snapping photos as fast as I could while trying to pay attention.  I knew his mom wanted to be there, but others needed her today.  My camera isn't the best in the world, and it's hard to take action photos without a flash (and I despise flashes).  I didn't want my wife to miss this moment, so I switched to movie mode on my digicam.  I remember when, earlier that morning, we talked about focusing and how to kick the board to break it.  Some of his earlier kicks worried me, but I told him that if he focused, it would be easy.  And focus he did.  He didn't even warm up like many of the adults were, he just side kicked out and broke the board.   I was so stunned at the kick and how nervous I had been to see it, that I immediately dropped the camera into my lap and began clapping with the rest of the crowd.  My wife got to see our son break the board, and then she got to see several seconds of my knee. 

On the way home, I was beaming with pride.  It was one of those Dad moments, where all you feel is family, pride, and love.  I'm so proud of my son, the new yellow belt.