And I couldn't be better.

Last night my wife, Martha and our four kids; Dennis, Delia, Dandelion and Daniel, went to Blind Camp at Western Michigan University. We belong to Southside Dojo and study Judo. Southside Dojo volunteers eevery year and does Blind Camp to teach kids with severe vision impairment and some with no vision how to do Judo.

This year they did a junior blind camp so we had some of the smallest kids ever. Have you ever tried to explain how to do a throw to someone who can't see what you're doing? It's a little daunting, but they are all pretty sharp kids and get it pretty quick. Plus, they have so much enthusiasm for what they are doing. Moreso than a lot of kids that are blessed with perfect sight.

I made a couple of new little friends there. One was Dilon. He was probably between eight or ten and all he wanted to do was Judo. He caught on pretty quick and I was surprised at his willingness to do simple falls. Sure, a back fall looks pretty easy, but most of us can see where we're going. Dilon couldn't and he did it over and over again. Even when the other kids in the camp were done after three or four tries at whatever we taught them, he was ready to go over and over again. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to do more Judo. He really liked it.

Plus, Judo is a grappling martial art so vision is kind of secondary. You don't need to see your opponent to put them into an arm bar or a floor pin. Heck, you don't need to see them to throw them to the ground. Dilon proved that with me and my daughter Delia. He really liked Osoto Gari and Delia and I probably ate more mat than most that were there.

We were there for about two hours and time flew so that it felt like about fifteen minutes. All the kids were great and even the few that were nervous about doing a front rolling fall gave it a try. One girl, Kate told me that she wasn't fond of her head being lower than her feet and I had to laugh. That was my excuse a while back. Never really liked tumbling. Now, I do it without thinking. It's a good thing to know when you're getting thrown around in class.

In the end it was fun to be with a large group of kids who were eager to learn and we got a chance to show them something that they might have never learned. When it was over we got a plaque for being volunteers of the year, but it wasn't about the plaque.

It was about the kids.

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On a side note, we went and saw Spiderman 3 this weekend. It was a sold out crowd. Some idiot brought their baby, but it didn't ruin the experience too much for me. It was okay, but it felt to me that they had taken three movies and jammed them into one flick. And the end seemed so final and you know that the suits in Hollywood are gonna see that box office take and start plotting a fourth one. And it will probably suck.