Trail of Lights

As we fight traffic to get to Zilker park, we try to boost the kids' holiday spirits with Christmas music in the car. We park in the fading dusk and Jo uses the miracle of cell phones for find the Tenney family in a crowd of five thousand other runners. Get set go! And the Trail of Lights Fun Run is on. Becky and Jo stay with the little ones while Sean and I decide to tackle to older kids. In a flash Jack, Sam and Vivian and off and they literally disappear into the crowd of runners in front of us. They can squeeze in the space between runners' hips and feet while I have to find a way around them. Somehow Sean and I keep up with them till Vivian gets a stitch. She and I slow down while the Tenney boys fly past us.

We all reunite at the finish line. There's free beer and donuts and pop corn but we are all done. We stand around the massive yule log and warm ourselves for a bit and trudge back to our cars and drive back home and dive into bed. Evan is the only one who is still talking. Mmmm - lazy Sunday tomorrow.

Saturday Afternoon

Like last year, Kevin's party is at the Y pool - indoor and heated with a fun slide and play area beside the pool. From noon to two, Vivian never stopped moving. Running, chasing, swimming, climbing. At 2:00 I throw her in the car and get back to the Taekwondo place. Evan and Jo are already there and Evan is posing very seriously and getting his photos taken. A little bit later it's Vivian's turn. Then we spend about half an hour examining the photos on a screen and we delete about half of them. The photographer promises that we'll have the images before Christmas. The'd better be golden for what she charged us. We get back in the car and drive home. Both kids are fast asleep. It's 3:30pm.

I lay Evan down in his bed in his Taekwondo clothes. Vivian and I have survived on a donut so far. She wakes up, and she and I stuff ourselves. And Jo and Vivian take off for Kira's birthday at Crenshaw's gymnasium. I let Evan sleep for a few more minutes while I round up the kids' running shoes and other stuff they will need later in the evening. I change Evan while he sleeps and carry him to the car. When we get to Crenshaw's he wakes up and says "My old gym" and is instantly awake and ready to go. He jumps into the fun and both he and Vivian speed around the place like wind-up toys. While the Saturday is beginning to take it's toll on me.

Tiny Tiger

On Saturday morning while Vivian spars for the very first time at Taekwondo, Evan decides to keep himself occupied with kicking boards. There's no one his age. But his instructor happens to be there and she loves Evan and so goes ahead and practices with him. He's ecstatic but very focused.

When the session ends, the senior student says the pledge to bring the class to an end. Just as everyone is about to disperse, Ms. Palacios, the owner of the business and a several degree black belt badass, says "Wait everyone. We have a Tiny Tiger here today. Evan, can you please come to the front of the class and say the Tiger Pledge?"

The four year olds are the Tiny Tigers. They get a shirt with a tiger cartoon on the back instead of the usual "Taekwondo Austin TX ATA" thing. And they have a simpler pledge.

Being asked to say the pledge is Evan's dream. He had practiced it on everyone in Nebraska over Thanksgiving. So he keeps up his serious Taekwondo face and marches over to the front and stands tall beside the black belt badass and delivers in style. When he finishes, there is an applause. As he smartly walks back to his spot, Ms. Palacios says "Evan - I want you to know that you are the reason why I know I did the right thing when I gave up my corporate engineering job and stated this". He doesn't understand a word but he beams proudly.

The force is strong with this one.

Taekwondo in the Morning

When we get to the ATA studio on Saturday morning for Taekwondo photos, we see that a photographer has set up in a corner and there's a sign-up sheet. Jo puts Vivian's name for the first available slot. We have 45 minutes to kill. Vivian's bad ass instructor asks if she wants to spar. Flashback: Vivian has done taekwondo one hour a week for two and half years. She loves it. But flowers bloom from her finger tips when she gets into a fighting stance or punches a board (the only thing she has ever punched). My darling daughter isn't aggressive or militant and I love that. But you can't advance in the martial arts for ever by practicing stances. At some point you have to stand there and slug it out. She has resisted doing that. But a couple of weeks ago she had shown some curiosity to spar.

Back to the present. So, mostly to pass the time till the photographer is ready, we buy her protective gear and we and she learn how to put it all on. A sparing partner is found. He was a young lad about Vivian's age who was already all dressed up. They face off, bow and start. No instructions.

Ten seconds later the boy doubles over and grabs his privates and all sparing is suspended while the instructor explains to Vivian that she can't hit below the belt. Slightly peeved, she agrees and they get back to it.

That's when Vivian starts kicking the crap out of the boy. He isn't getting hurt because her kicks are gentle and she's wearing puffy foot covers and he's got some sort of body armor on. But he never gets a chance to get to Vivian because Vivian lands kick after kick after kick relentlessly. 

When they are done she is flushed and happy and can't wait to spar on Monday with her classmates at her regular Taekwondo class. The end of the innocence. She's tasted the proverbial blood and there is no stuffing this genie back.