After going to the gym with my 13-year-old son Jacob, we were debriefing with the family around the dinner table.  Oh, the epic tales of weights and cardio filled the air.  Soon however the conversation turned to the inevitable topic of my age.  My age and my crumbling body.  My age and how I have trouble keeping up.  Then Jacob unknowingly ventured into verbally dangerous territory.

My young teen described the situation as follows, “I was getting so far ahead of dad.  Between weights and push ups, he needed to take breaks.  I was almost done with my push ups, before he even started.”

That’s when I pulled back the curtain and revealed the ugly truth.  “Well, I needed to take breaks before push ups, because I needed to pull up my shorts.  If I had gone right into push ups, I would have had a plumber’s butt, right there in the middle of the gym.”

Did that burn your mind’s eye?  Sorry son, there are some things that you just can’t unsee, even when it’s only in your imagination.