The Final Push...

WARNING - this post is full of blantant mother's pride! 
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This past Saturday my daughter accomplished a 5.5 hour pre-test for her black belt journey.  It was brutal.  She ran a total of 3 miles, did 100 timed pushups, at least a hundred additional pushups, timed crunches, timed 500 round kicks in full sparring gear, sparring, several forms, boxing, cardio, self-defense, her weapons form and more. 

I was able to be her self-defense partner (nothing my kids like better than throwing Mom around like a sack of potatoes) but other than that I had to cheer from the side lines.  It was SO hard watching her push herself beyond all her limits time and time again.  There were tears, there was exhaustion, there were times when she didn't know if she could keep going but she did anyways.  I was exhausted at the end just from WATCHING her push herself so hard.  I honestly couldn't be more proud of my girl.  It was probably one of the hardest thing she'll do both physically and mentally prior to becoming an adult.  I just can't even explain how in awe I am of my child.  She is growing up to become everything I could ever hope she would be - beautiful, intelligent, diligent, compassionate, strong in body and soul.

While the process of getting here has been long (she's been doing martial arts for 5 years and has been actively training for her black belt for 6 months) it has helped define even clearer the amazing woman she is becoming.  Our mother-daughter relationship has grown even closer over the past 6 months as we've trained together for her to reach this goal.  We've reached that magical time in our relationship where adult friendship begins to cement under the mother-child bond.  She is just plain fun to hang out with!

While I'd love to say she can now take a break, the next month is the final push to polish any areas she still needs to work on.  So, she's been back at it working on running and push ups along with the rest of the requirements and working on polishing her weapons form and other forms.  She's got less than a month until the final black belt test and she is working heart, soul and every muscle of her being to accomplish that goal.  As I promised at the beginning of her journey, I'll be there ever step of the way helping in any way I can.  Sometimes that means being the drill sergeant and telling her to get lower on her pushups, to kick higher on the bags, to keep pushing herself beyond where she thinks she can go.  Sometimes that means being the shoulder to lean on when exhaustion and soreness take their toll.  While we can see the light at the end of the tunnel we still have that last 10% to go and sometimes that last little bit is the hardest part of all.  All this while she is maintaining a 4.0 in high school.

If you made it all the way through this post - thanks for listening to my ramblings of motherly pride.  Sometimes you just have to shout out from the roof tops how much you love your kids.  Now, I'm off to work on my own training so I can keep up with my kid!