TheBodyguard’s BodyBlog

I was 11 years old and anxiously awaiting my dad coming home from the Steel Mill, I din’t see my dad much growing up it seemd like he was always working he usually left before I awoke and returned around 11:30 pm when I was supposed to be in bed.

But today he was coming home early he had called and told me to be ready, he was taking me some where special.

I had no Idea where we were going but I was anxious, I was always kind of intimidated by my dad he was a former Combat tested Marine Veteran and started work at the Steel Mill after the War, he looked every bit the part to me as did most of the rugged men who worked in the Mill with him but none the less he was my hero.

I heard the car pull up the Drive way and my mom yell "You better be ready I’m sure your dad doesn’t want to wait". I scrambled down the hall and grabbed $2.00 my grandpa had slipped in my pocket the week before. I wasn’t sure I’d need it but I sure felt better having it in my pocket.

No sooner had I gotten back up the hall then my dad came in he had on a blue t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and chest, his massive forearms snaked with veins and golden brown from the summer’s heat wrapped around my mom’s waist and he pulled her in for a kiss.

Dad was happy and that was good, I was excited. He had on jeans wich the legs were flooding he said it was safer at work to have them short he sat down to remove his steel toes and put his oxfords on as he sat his pant legs gave a glimpse of his massive calves the product of hours on his feet.

Soon he was ready he reached in the refridgerator pulled out a ice cold glass bottle of pepsi and handed it to me and said I could drink it in the car. "Go get in the front seat he barked" (Rember he was a Marine)

I jumped in the front seat and we drove to the strip mall a city away and he said to get out, "where were we going?" I wandered to myself as he put his heavy hand on top of my head and we walked up to the Little Professor Book Store what were we doing here?

We walked to the back magazine rack and he pointed to the top shelf and there it was in all its full color glossy paper glory.

The October issue of Joe Weider’s Muscle Builder and Power (Later to become Muscle & Fitness) it was a solid black cover with a full color pic of Robby Robinson doing a front double bicep pose he looked like a freaking puffed up cobra under the pic it said Robby Robinson World’s Bodybuilding Champion then in Larger letters it said Torso of a Bodybuilder.

Dad handed down the magazine to me and put his heavy hand on my head again and walked me to the front counter and said "you got your money?" I laid the magazine on the counter and slid my $2.00 across the counter and my dad tossed some change in. The lady slid it in a thin bag and handed it down to me. I don’t remeber much after that I clutched it tight to my chest and before I knew it we were pulling up in the drive way, I don’t even remember the drive home only that I couldn’t wait to open the cover when I got inside.

Later that evening after dinner the door to my room opened dad came in and laid down on the bed next to me and started asking about the guys and who was who and we discussed in great detail every article of that magazine. I didn’t realize it at the time but that maybe one of the first real conversations I ever had with my dad.

He stood up after an hour or two and patted me on the head "I’ll leave you to it" he said and started to walk out he stopped and stuck his hand in his pockett and pulled out $5.00 dollars tucked it in my t-shirt pockett and said "don’t tell mom" I started to say something bout the magazine only being $2.00 but he just looked at me in a way that made me just keep it to my self.

later that night I fell asleep reading that magazine over and over. In the morning I am not sure cause it was very early, actually it was still dark out but I swear my dad came in and kissed my forhead before he went to work.

In the lower right hand corner of the cover of that magazine it read

"LIFE HAS NO MORE THRILLING EMOTION THAN OF PRIMITIVE HUMAN PRIDE IN A STRONG MAN STANDING IN HIS STRENGTH"

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.