The Pitts

Tonight was Pitts-Sensei's last Karate class at hombu dojo before he moves away, and it was a great night of training.  I was kind of hoping that he would teach, because I wanted to experience his class one more time, but Shihan taught instead, and we "had a little fun".  For those of you who don't know Shihan-code, that means "Your ass will be dragging by the end", but we really did have a lot of fun, too.

I had to keep reminding myself that it was not the LAST time I would ever see J.P., or else I would've started crying.  Almost every single one of our Karate teachers and students showed up tonight to bid him goodbye.  He's been there longer than anyone, so he has seen each one of us come up through the ranks, and we all wanted to be there to let him know how much he means to us.

I wish Sensei Pitts all of the best as he embarks upon the next step on his journey.  I appreciate all of the sweat that we've shared, and even the tears I've left on his gi.  I will miss seeing his giant fists flying at me, and how no matter at what speed we lined up, it was never fast enough for him.  I will miss training in a circle, and doing punch-punch-kick so many times that by the end conscious thought was no longer possible, then we would practice kata.  I will miss everything about having him around...even all of the push-ups we had to do for being too slow.