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Grow!

See that schedule over there? Don't worry if you can't read it, the words aren't important. Just notice how many classes there are. That is all the classes, both adults and children, that we had in our first official month of running a dojo. Ten. Ten classes. Isn't is cute? And lest you think we were being lazy, let me point out that we had no idea what we were doing. And were both still working in other jobs. Oh, and our teacher had just passed away. So those few classes a week were kind of a big deal back then.
This is our current schedule. We don't even teach all of them. Some of them are taught by our assistant instructors. Some of them say funny words like "strength and conditioning" or "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu". Some of them actually say that we accept 3 year olds! (Clearly a typo.)

 In February of 2005 we were renting a small room inside a yoga studio. And now, in December of 2013. we are renting a storefront space on Columbus Ave. We have over 200 active, enrolled students. 

 The point of all this is not to brag about how great we are. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I attribute our success mostly to luck. That and the fact that we have awesome students. 

 No, my point is actually to brag about how great my husband is. 

 We did a million things wrong in the beginning. But, as anyone who has ever been a teacher knows, the best way to get better at teaching is to have a classroom full of wide eyed, fidgety kids staring up at you every day. (Or grownups. You would think they would fidget less.) 

 Matthew is a great instructor because he is constantly thinking about how to be one. He is constantly evolving, growing and learning. He is never satisfied with just phoning it in. (Ok, there was that one time he had the flu and still went in and taught 6 classes. That day he may have just sat there and counted.)

 He inspires students to grow. He inspires me to grow. (I wish it was working! Have you seen me, I am pretty damn tiny!) 

 He is not the only reason our dojo has grown. I work pretty hard too. But he is the reason our adult program has grown. I don't teach anyone who is taller than me. 

 Today my husband will be be bringing three students to take a class with his jiu-jitsu instructor. If all goes well, at the end they will be awarded BJJ blue belts. 

 In March, he will be sending four students up for their Shodan karate promotion. They will be the biggest group from our dojo to go at once, and contain the first who have trained exclusively in our Columbus Ave. space.

 They say if you are not growing you are dying.

 From where I sit, we are alive and well!
Congratulations honey!
Oh yeah, and Osu I guess.
What is that, you ask? Why that is a Chia Pet Barak Obama. 
Because I know all this mushy love stuff makes some of you uncomfortable. 

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