This is my first post in two days. Truly, nothing was going on on Friday. Nothing to report, except progress on the current sweater. Which is a good thing.
Yesterday, however, we drove out to Andover, Mass. to watch our son compete in a karate tournament. It dragged on forever. We had Jason and Becky with us, and I felt bad that it was so boring. This was their very first tournament to watch. When finally the Master Divisions were called, we all perked up. His being a 4th degree black belt makes him a Master now. He didn't do breaking, but did forms and sparring. His form was excellent, but he didn't place.
His first two fights were excellent, you can see he really enjoys doing that. But during his third fight (in a row, with only a 30 second break in between, I must add) I saw something I hoped to never see. He got a kick straight to the jaw, and went down like a sack of potatoes. My heart stopped. As soon as he hit the floor, he got up and wanted to continue the fight. But he was swaying, and unsteady on his feet.
They made him sit down, and he got examined by someone. I'm not sure if that person had medical training, or lots of fighting experience. Either way, he recovered, and wanted to continue. The Judges stopped the fight, wouldn't let him fight any more, and gave him first place. They gave second to the man who kicked him, but wouldn't let that guy compete in the Grand Championships either.
I have to say, no matter that your kids are all grown up, that sight can still stop a mom's heart. He did have a whopper of a headache, and didn't want to drive home last night. He and Julie stayed at a hotel and headed home after breakfast.
I must say, that in all his years of learning karate and competing in tournaments, he has been really lucky. He broke a finger when he was an orange belt, and as a red belt, got his chest wall bruised. But he has never been seriously hurt. Knock on wood.
Even though I brought my knitting with me, I never broke it out during the tournament. There were like 10 rings going all at once, and there was a lot to see. There were people there from all over the country, and even the world! I saw teams from Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina. There were teams in attendance from Canada, Wales, and even South Africa!! Amazing.
It was very crowded in there, so we spent some time in the hotel lobby just hanging out until the crowd thinned down a little. As the underbelts finished, they would leave, and make more room. So the theory goes. It was still corowded when we finally went in, but we found a place to sit, against the wall, and when things got going we stood on the chairs to see better. Alot of people were doing that.
All in all, Jason and Becky enjoyed themselves. They learned alot, and would like to see another tournament, maybe a little closer to home.
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