A Blue Christmas

This past week has been very trying. I missed jiu-jitsu last night because I was slammed at work. I was slammed again today. Though I cannot complain about being busy at work (I own my own business so busy is great) everything seems to have been much harder than it needed to be. I have only three Christmas presents for the wife and we're leaving to Middle-of-Nowhere, Tennessee tomorrow. Today I made the responsible choice and decided to go Christmas shopping...after jiu-jitsu.

I stumbled into class about 5 minutes late. Everyone was sitting on the mat and we got ready to start the warm-up. Donny made fun of me for still wearing my watch. I had completely not noticed. I never wear my watch while at jiu-jitsu. I could tell this night was going to be as rough as the rest of the week has been. So, the evening progressed as we all lined up to bow in. Donny announces that he has something to say to us before we get started.

After some joking and some jiu-jitsu wisdom he begins to talk about a certain person and how the first time he saw them he thought, "This guy is going to pay for a month and never come back." He then announces that tonight there will be a belt ranking.

I knew immediately that it was for me. I know, it's a bit pretentious of me to assume that out of all the awesome guys there, I'm the only one to be promoted but I just knew it was me. Sure enough, he calls the Awesome Possum to the front and presents me with my blue belt. I couldn't believe it. I was so shocked. I knew I was close but I didn't know I was that close.

I'm honored that Donny thinks that highly of me and I hope I can do him proud. I haven't had the best competition record and I'm glad that he can see past that. Though I don't think I deserve it, I completely trust Donny and I will be the best damn blue belt I can be. It's amazing how much your game is stepped up just by placing that blue piece of cloth around your waist. My only regret is that the wife wasn't there to see it but I'm sure she'll be there for the purple. Thanks to everyone for the support. I especially need to thank my training partners because without you guys (and girls) I would never have gotten this far.

Here's to another safe and healthy new year.