You can't bullshit a bullshitter...

was one of my Dad's famous sayings. Most of his sayings were ridiculous. Some of them were regularly used in the wrong context, but that's not important either. At one point in my life, everything that my dad said made no sense. He was stupid.

Boy, was I wrong. I was the stupid little smart ass. He was the smart one, and most of what he said was 100% correct. It just took me about 25 years to figure that out.

My dad died two years ago when I was 32, so that gave me 7 years to truly appreciate the man my dad was. It also gave me the standard that I have to attempt to achieve over the remaining years of my life.

He was also one hell of a strong man. Every attempt that I make to improve my physical strength is a direct result of trying to be as strong as he was. I know that will damn near be impossible, but I can always try. The week before he died, I reminded him of the time he picked up and skillfully set a limestone tread on top of a set of steps he had built--he was a mason by profession. The thing was taller than he was and it weighed a lot. He did it perfectly. He had to, because he only had one shot at it. I remember being in traffic one day and watching two guys fumbling with a similar limestone tread when that memory came back to me. I was probably 7 when he did it. Anyway, when I reminded him of this, he minimized it. He thought of ways he could have done it using guides and supports because in his head it was impossible. He was such a humble man. However, I remember what I saw, and he used nothing but his strength.

My dad really would have gotten a huge kick out of my love of kettlebells. While he never quite understood why I wanted to run 70+ miles a week in college, he would have understood the usefulness of kettlebells. Humble, honest, and humbling, they would have made perfect sense to him. I actually had a dream of him pressing a KB one night. It was a bulldog and he pressed several times with no problem.

I can't tell you what I would give to actually see that.