A black belt

It's an amazing feeling when that bag opens. When you are picked up, wrapped, tucked, then knotted on your owner's waist where you belong. She takes her next step with confidence, enthusiasm, and pride. The journey she went on to meet me. The run, the tests, the 6 month battle, all for us to be introduced. She made it though. Now each time she bows on the mat, I crease with age. Making me not an amature anymore. Together, we are growing stronger and wiser, maturing into a better version of ourselves. I'm not just a black belt anymore, and she's not just a student. We are one. So even when she slips me off at the end of the day, I'm still there. I'm the character she has developed into, the person she has become, and that will never change.