I would have preferred that the kids take today off from working out; a down day before the test would have been a good idea, but they were not happy about it and wanted "just an hour" to run through the techniques they were least confident about. We garnered promises that there would be no complaining when I said it was time to stop, and Char dropped us off. The kids and I headed into the dojang and she headed to the gym.

Routinely, the person closing up the dojang at night turns the heat down. We walked into a damned hot house today; I suspect TK told one of the students to turn it down and the thermostat's lever got pushed in the wrong direction. At that point I should have told the kids it was an omen and called Char to come back and get us, but they talked me out of it.

Fifteen minutes and it will cool off. We have shorts and t-shirts, we don't need to wear doboks for this.

Now, many years ago I lost a female student because I was in the dojang working out alone, out of uniform. I was wearing spandex shorts and nothing else; I had not locked the door and she wandered in, and for whatever reason was horribly offended. She went off on me as if I'd dropped my pants in front of her, and ended her mouth-frothing diatribe with I have half a mind to quit!

I pointed to the area behind her and said the door was right there.

Anyway, I should have remembered that today. Five minutes into warming up, both boys stripped off their shirts and the a-shirt Rachel wore was not much better. When the door opened I was on the other side of the dojang trying to find a CD I could tolerate for the kids to work out to, and Alex was helping Rachel stretch; her foot was on his shoulder, and he had her by the shoulders to help her maintain balance.

I can only imagine what it looked like to the parents of a potential student who walked in then; they stepped through the door, spotted my nearly undressed kids in (to the untrained eyes) an inexplicable position, and as they turned around and headed out I heard him spit out, There's no way in hell I'll let her go here!

I locked the door.

Char returned an hour and a half later and we took them out to lunch and then home, where we were vilified for telling them to watch TV or play video games, but there would be no covert practicing in bedrooms. Invite friends over, hell, I'll fire up the grill and feed them, but no one goes anywhere.

Tonight they all went to bed early; by 8 pm they were each in their rooms reading and the house was quiet. By 10 all their lights were out.

By this time tomorrow they'll be done, and like Char said yesterday, I hope they want to take a break from all activities for a while. We all need to rest. Or it might only be me, but I'm old and need the nap.