Our Scary, Overwhelming, Beautiful Beginning

A month and a half ago Gene and I began this amazing Journey.  On August 20^th in the middle of a Star Trek episode Gene turned to me and said, “I think I want to open a karate school.” We set a goal, to start researching and asking some questions and hopefully have it open by Christmas.  We began discussing a name, several different ones were proposed, my favorite being Gene’s suggestion of Kenpo Fitness Center, (That was shot down once we realized it would be KFC.) At 3:30 one morning I rolled over in bed looked at Gene and said “Scholar and Warrior Kenpo Academy.” Gene’s response was “cool,” and he fell back to sleep.  We now had a name, next was a building.

The next week we went building hunting, we had a page of paper full of addresses and contact information, but there was one building that we had put three stars next to and circled the phone number. That little building on Edmond with the rock garden in the front had stolen our hearts…that was the one we wanted.  We called the realtor the next day and scheduled a walk through. Fifteen minutes into the walk through we knew this was THE place. We signed the papers on September 6^th. We had a key and a dream, and a whole lot of cleaning to do. 

We spent the next three weeks practically living at that dojo. Scrubbing, painting and completely redoing the entire bathroom, and when we weren’t physically working on the school we were creating the curriculum, obtaining credentials, and ordering necessities for the school. It was like having a newborn, every waking second we spent working on the school.

September 26^th, we opened our doors to the public. We had two little boys; a teenage girl and an adult join us. And we were ecstatic. Wednesday night we had the same children but no adults. And the same went for Saturday…we were scared to say the least. Then the second Monday came, and we had ten adult students in class. It was absolutely beautiful. They asked questions, they were excited; they loved every minute of it. It was in that moment that I knew what we were doing was going to work.

It’s never been about making a killing off of this for us, that’s why we both have day jobs. No we do this because it’s what we love to do. And to be able to share what you love with others, is there really anything better?

To be honest there were moments when I thought “are we crazy?” We planned on it taking four months, not five weeks. But I’m glad we dove in headfirst and took that plunge. I’m glad we rolled the dice, because this is the greatest thing we have ever done. We lit another Flame for Mr. Parker, and we have helped instill a hunger for Kenpo into several people already. We’ve created a family, and it’s absolutely beautiful.  I hope we never stop!