If I’d planned my Giveaways out better, I would have been writing about Christopher Columbus today and this blog would have been yesterday’s entry, but it seems like this Giveaway project is much more like jazz than classical music – it contains a lot of improvisation and spontaneity.

Today’s blog is most definitely about spontaneity. Our son Theo takes karate lessons on Friday afternoon, and last Friday afternoon his teacher Robert asked him if he thought he was ready to test for his blue belt, the first belt in the advanced level of Tang Soo Do (the type of karate he has been learning for the last 5 years). The test was to be on Sunday – only two days away. Theo was stunned and muttered, “I don’t know. I think I need to take four more classes, and then I’ll be ready.” Robert was satisfied with the answer, but afterwards, I asked him if he thought Theo was ready, to which he replied, “I wouldn’t have asked him if I didn’t.”

Though Theo was initially hesitant about testing, after class he asked me if he could take an extra class on Saturday, something he has never asked for before. I said, “Sure,” and added that if after that class he wanted to test the next day, he could. He must have been motivated by Robert’s faith in him, because, after Saturday’s class he told me he wanted to try the test, and on Sunday, he rocked the test. He didn’t know all his forms perfectly and got muddled up with some of his moves, but he brought an energy, determination and maturity to the test that amazed my husband David and me. But not Robert – he had known Theo had it in him, and even more importantly, he knew how to bring it out of him.

So today, I stopped by My Gym (http://www.mygym.com/atwatervillage) where Theo has his karate lessons and dropped off a pair of speakers that I hope Robert and his staff can use somewhere in their wonderful children’s fitness center. It’s a great space where Theo has not only been learning karate and where he recently celebrated his 10^th birthday. It’s a space where he has been growing. If they can use the speakers, I am sure they will use them to play all sorts of terrific music, from playful pop and hip-hop to wild-and-crazy rock and roll and intricately structured and well practiced classical symphonies. Who knows, they may even play some jazz…