How Karate Changed Our Lives

by Rachel Lovely

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

― Eleanor Roosevelt

I had a dream to give my children more opportunities than I had. Thanks to my best friend Elizabeth I was able to make my dream come true. I was sitting down, chatting with Elizabeth one night, and we were talking about our dreams. I told her how badly I wanted to put my kids into sports. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford it. Elizabeth, being the angel that she is, offered to pay for their lessons. I immediately enrolled my son, Jason, into karate.

When I first started college, I was required to take Math 0057. Mr. Bill Bauer was my instructor. I enjoyed this class very much. Mr. Bauer was very friendly and would share stories about his life with us. On top of being a math instructor, he was a bodyguard, and moonlighted as a karate instructor.

This made the choice of where to send Jason for karate very clear. Jason would definitely take Mr. Bauer's class. I had the thought in the back of my head to send him there, but I knew i couldn't afford it. When Elizabeth made it a reality for us, we were ecstatic.

On our first day of karate class, I couldn't wait to introduce Jason to Mr. Bauer. He introduced himself to Jason as Sensei Bill. With our history of math class, Sensei Bill had an immediate connection with Jason. He took him under his wing to show him the ways of Teikoku Shodan, a type of karate.

To describe my son a little bit, he is four years old, almost five. He is 71 Pounds, which is

rather on the heavy side for a four-year-old. I try watching his diet and his sugar intake. He is active, but the chunkiness runs in the family. There is also history of heart disease and diabetes in the genes as well. This is why I wanted for him to be in sports so badly.

　       Back to the first day of karate, he did alright. He is defiantly not a natural. He will require a lot of conditioning. He has fun and enjoys karate very much. Sensei Bill is amazing and takes his time with Jason. Jason does his kicks and punches. He does push-ups and jumping exercises. He has come a long way from where he started.

After his third class, Sensei Bill told Jason he needs to run, do pushups, and crunches at home to get stronger. Now Jason is teaching me karate. He asks to go running and do his pushups and crunches every day. Jason said if he must do it than I must do it also. Now he has me running, doing pushups and crunches. Which is great for me, because the history of diabetes and heart disease come from my side of the family.

Now we are becoming closer as mother and son through karate and exercise. Instead of watching movies we are outside running. I feel so much better daily because of the exercise I am doing. I haven't exercised in years. It is easier with Jason by my side encouraging me. We are going to live longer happier lives because of karate, sensei bill, and Elizabeth. The dream, that became reality is changing our future.