Today sort of sucked.

We took Elias to this karate school around the corner– it had gotten rave reviews, and was like nine seconds away. So we did a little tour, one of the teachers went through basic instructions with Eli, I melted, she said he was phenomenal, which J was like Oh they say that to all kids, but he did REALLY well and I’ve actually spent a chunk of my life being dragged to martial arts events, so this is from some experience. She was ready to start him immediately, and so was I. We sat down to talk money. I knew it was going to cost a lot, which it did ($100 a month for a basic package), but the main issue was that we’d have to commit to a six-month contract. So it wasn’t just $100, and if he hates it, we’ll quit next month. It was at least $600 we were obligated to pay. Not to mention it’s $60 each time he goes up a belt, and they were expecting him to graduate at least two belts in the six months. I said I thought it would be okay. I’d talk it over with Jason, and call back later. Elias was all excited about going back on Saturday for his first class.

Seriously. I struggled with this. I can’t even tell you how knotted up my stomach was, thinking about this money, weighing E’s desire to take up a sport with our pocketbook. J and I talked, and the more we discussed it, the more we felt like– we just can’t. I mean, we could– but we shouldn’t. E needs to DO some karate first before we commit to that kind of a contract. I mean, if Eli had been doing this for two months, and we could tell he loved it and was progressing– that’s one thing. But we don’t know that. And we’re finally doing better with money– by June, with the raise and the tax rebate and a credit card paid off, we’ll be doing WELL. Taking a huge chunk out of our savings to do this made me queasy.

Basically, we want Eli to do karate. We’re behind that. We’re still supporting it, and we’ll continue to look into it. We just can’t do it at this particular place, at this particular moment, if they only do contacts. When Jason called up to tell them we wouldn’t be going through with it, the woman was really upset and defensive, and Jason got upset, and I got upset– it just turned into a lousy situation. They were mad and hurt that we spent the time there and decided not to sign up, and we were upset because we really WERE interested– and we still might have done it in the future (now we sort of feel awkward going in there again. I feel like the Mom Who Cried Wolf).

And of course Elias is going to wake up at 8 tomorrow morning and wonder when he’s going to do karate? and is his uniform ready? and watch him chop this! and Addie is too little to do karate, but not him! he is KARATE MASTER! I’m not looking forward to breaking that news.

Fail. This all played out so much better in my head.