Dear Anne,
Of course I remember you! And fondly too! Im so pleased to receive the news and picture of you parents with their Black Belt certificates, please extend my deepest congratulations to them both, you must be very proud of them. And its such a good example for you to have in your life, excellent for your whole family.
That must have been a longggggggg testing with 17 going for Shodan! Wow!! I have never heard of such a large testing except for on a National level with students from across the country, but from ONE Dojo!!!! Wow!!
...Please extend my congratulations also to your Sensei! That is truly an accomplishment and a mark of a great Sensei to develop so many ready to test and to have so many REAL Black Belts (Active ones) already. Its only about the practicing and continued involvement once one becomes a real student (Black Belt) .... Its only the beginning!!
Im coming up on my 29th anniversary of being an active (no breaks whatsoever) Black Belt. And have managed to inspire a good group of active Black Belts (I have promoted 40-50 over the years with about half still remaining active)... which is my most valuable contribution to the future of the arts.
Thanks again for the news update, the communication and the pictures. Hope your summer is going well. Again my congratulations to your family.
Warm regards,
Richard/Sensei
Grüße aus USA - 2004
