The Competition

The day we've been waiting for finally came! It was so exciting not knowing what to expect and then seeing so many people from all walks of life at this competition. Grand Master was waiting for us outside the gym and then we went inside and met the other parents and kids from our group. There weren't many of us and half was from the school in Rowland Heights. I was nervous for Aidan because you can say that I pushed him into entering. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do it but I really felt that this would give him a boost in his confidence.

Seeing him walk down the stairs and onto the arena was surreal. There was my sweet baby, now a young man (in his own words), and I had thrust him into the world of competitive sports. I hope he wins. But of course it's OK if he doesn't win. I hope he doesn't hate it. Did he get a good warm-up? Did I do the right thing? Is he ready for this? Yes, he's ready. I think he's ready.

There were only 3 kids in his group and he ended up challenging the winner of the first match. The matches were two minutes with a 20 second break in between. My heart was beating so fast and Aidan came out on fire. We had been talking about his stamina for the past week and I was worried that he would get tired. He was dropping off in the end and he lost his lead. They were tied at 16-16 and with only 2 seconds left Aidan was able to get a kick in that pulled him one point ahead.



My throat is a little hoarse from yelling, "Go, Aidan! C'mon, Aidan!" I can't describe the joy I felt seeing that score. 17. It must be a magic number because that's his number in his class at school. He came back to the bleachers with a gold medal around his neck and I couldn't have been any prouder.



He told me later, "I tried my best, Mommy." And his best this time was really the best.

And when we said goodnight the last thing he said to me was "thank you for taking me to the competition."