The Old Man

[bruteforce]

Not sure what brought this on, but I was thinking about the view I had of my dad when I was a kid. The guy was huge, brutally strong, and knew everything. I was pretty sure he could pick up a car with one hand. He could do impossible things, like carry 2 five gallon buckets full of water and fish up the big hill back to the truck. He knew the answers to everything in my homework without having to use a pencil and paper. He was super-human.

Now that I'm big and strong and supposedly grown up, I look back at it all and think "damn, that old dude really was pretty awesome". Sure, I'm a couple inches taller than him, and yeah, he's getting close to 60 and is slowing down some, but he still has a grip that could crush my hand. And that was a BIG hill. I think I would pass out half way up, and a 5 gallon bucket full of water gets uncomfortable pretty quickly.

He's tough, smart, and I still feel like he's stronger than me, even though clearly that's not the case. But he's still my old man. Sort of a hero. A dorky one. An engineer who had his career chosen for him by an accident in paper work and became one of the best in his field. A man who sacrificed every day, working 12 hours and coming home and finding time to be with his family and tell the same bad joke every night, thinking it was funnier each time. I hope one day I can be as good as he is. To dads.

[Off Road]

Awesome.

I love my dad, but he was never a 'physical' kind of guy. He didn't like the outdoors, so I had to teach myself how to fish, camp, and build fires. He never did any sort of exercise other than walking and yard work, I had to teach myself about strength and conditioning. My dad worked very long hours and was often home after we were in bed. I want more for my kids, so I introduce them to things like the outdoors, fishing and shooting, exercise and sports, and I make sure that I spend as much time as I can with them; Joking and playing and teaching.

[Rich Knapp]

[big valsalva]

Wonderful observation, bruteforce. Kinda chokes me up thinking about my dad. Our dads sound similar in many ways. I don't think my dad ever exercised a day in his life, but life. tough times, and farm work made him strong as an ox. For all the training I've done in the past 10 years, I still think my dad (at 74) is stronger than me. I like to thinks so anyway.

[Jen]

That's awesome, Brute. I would give anything to have had that experience.

[IronWill]

Great Brute, thanks

[Ryano]

Nice, but " he's getting close to 60 "...isn't old. Geez, I'll be 57 in a couple of months.