So I wanted to share something here that I can't really share elsewhere, and fun to share anyway.

My martial arts master recently hit the mark of 25 years in practice, and in honor of this and his impact on the area and people I commissioned a special plaque thanking him for this.

The part that is my "secret" is I did this all on my own and could have presented it as such; I have been practicing with him since the beginning of his school ownership journey 15 years ago. However, I thought it would be more significant to present it from the Instructor team and did so at the testing last night. As far as I know, no one knows it was just me. While one of my thoughts is I played a deceit game, the primary one is I made an impact and helped foster greater community by doing this.

While keeping secrets is hard for me because of my dedication to honesty and openness, this is one to keep.

And best of all, we kept it a complete surprise before the presentation of this plaque at the end of the testing! He was close to tears of joy after we presented it, and everyone applauding. All worth it.

Next step for me now is to make my own version of this community in my current town.