Your Back Trail

[stef]

by John F Musser

At the end of the day you can’t do anything about it. You're right, her family is huge. There are brothers, sisters, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, and geezer Mom and Dad. There are hundreds of them...

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[Sparky]

Masterpiece!
Sparky

[Geoff Bischoff]

That was terse and hard-hitting. Good work.

[TommyGun]

Damn it, the articles submitted to Rip just keep getting better and better. Why do I tear up often when I read these articles? I don't know but they hit me deep for reasons I cant quite articulate. The depth of this just goes right into my soul, and I am usually one unemotional bastard. Is it because this is exactly me and my mother who is in hospice and atrophied and my strength enables me to bring some
simple yet fleeting moments of joy in her last days? Damn you all for making me cry in work and having to look around to make sure no one sees me.

You remember after you wheeled her to the front of the church, how somebody started hammering on a piano and the whole damn crowd started singing? Remember how she stared up at the guy on the cross and was nodding her head to the music and was trying to sing through a body that had been ravaged by so many strokes you had lost count? She knew the words – you didn’t, but she did.

Remember how she smiled that crooked drooped-face smile, the best smile she could manage, and she reached over with her thin little arm and patted you on the cheek? You remember that, right? Remember her singing, moving with the music, smiling and patting you on your cheek? Tell me you remember that.

How did you get strong enough to pick her up? How did you get strong enough to be the only one there who could get her into the church on a fucking Sunday morning?

[Dale Waters]

Just completed a sick/work/sick hiatus; this was a good affirmation to get back to it. The one about falling while squatting reminds of my father (minus the total descent into alchoholism) and the church one my mother. I'll see about turning the emotion into results. Thanks.

[Antonio de Blas]

This was really emotional for me.

[John F Musser]

Thanks for reading the piece and taking the time to respond to it. I wasn't sure how it was going to go over, however Rip assured me it would be well received. Thanks for the feedback.

[Chris Hitchcock]

Mr. Musser,

No, B.S., that is the most emotionally hard hitting article on strength training I've read since Henry Rollins' "The Iron". The reality of life's challenges and maintaining a long term program is one of the most difficult things you can do. However, that may be the only thing that keeps you from falling apart. Lot of wisdom and experience in this article. Thank you for writing it!

[John F Musser]

Thank you Chris.

[mdb]

Mr. Musser,
This is a difficult read. It is also worthwhile to read. It took me a bit of time to "get it". It made me think of my son, my mother (caught her in the shower, before she fell), and my daughter, and other trying parts of my life. Yes it was, as said earlier, a hard hitter. I am a late starter to training, and it keeps me sane and focused. People think I should stop doing this "training" because "you will get hurt". Nope! I will just keep getting stronger. My husband trains with me. He was always strong but he is so much stronger now.
Thank you for the article.