While I was traveling in the UK this past week, the kids had their last week of school. Sebastian completed Grade 3 (called Primary 3 in Hong Kong) and the triplets completed Grade/Primary 1. I wasn't too happy to miss the festivities – there were lots of class parties and joyous occasions of kids, parents and teachers saying good-bye to each other for the summer. The kids (and us as parents) were incredibly blessed to have such outstanding teachers this past year. Thoughtful Tess sent me pictures of the kids (pictured here) with their teachers so that I wouldn't feel that far away!
During the last week, Sebastian and Jasper also completed their martial arts class. This was a bittersweet accomplishment. Sweet in the sense they persisted with the classes and are gaining a junior level of mastery in martial arts. (I did Judo when I was a tween.) Bitter in the sense that their original instructor, a fabulous teacher that the kids liked very much, left halfway through the school year due to an illness: he discovered he had cancer. This instructor returned for the last class, to see how his budding Bruce Lee’s had done in the second half of the year.
Reports came in from the parents, and also Sebastian, that the former instructor didn’t look his best. We learned later from the instructor that his first bout of cancer occurred in 2005 and went into remission until this past year. This caused the cancer concept to hit a little closer to home. The kids asked questions about the Martial Arts Master and were concerned for him, especially Sebastian, who was solidifying the link between my bald head and cancer research. Since the end of school Sebastian has inquired many times about the Master. Meanwhile, our prayers go out to this Martial Arts Master in search of a blessed outcome, too.
