Grandad used to tell stories, a lot of stories. The details would often change each time he told the story so eventually I stopped paying as much attention to them. However there was this one story that he started telling me as a kid and every few years he would bring it up again.
It was from his time in the Coast Guard when he was still a skinny/gangly dude and the best lightweight boxer on his ship. He was always working out every chance he could get. He was always hitting the heavy bag and would stand under the speed bag for some times hours just working his technique, building strength and endurance. As a result of his efforts he was able to dominate all the different fighters that they put in the ring against him and eventually people stopped wanting to fight him.
Once day the captain of the ship asked him to fight someone; the heavyweight on the ship. Vic looked at the captain and said "all due respect sir, but you're nuts! That guy will kill me!" The captain told him that he had seen the time and effort that he had been putting into his workouts asked him to do it anyway. He also let him know that his money was on my grandfather.
So Vic jumped in the ring a week later. He took some lumps, big lumps, but eventually wore out his heavyweight opponent and won the bout. The only person on the ship that wasn't surprised at his victory was the captain.
It wasn't until Grandad passed away that I started to reflect on the stories he told and the times we shared. The lesson that he was trying to teach me was never clear to me when he was actually telling me the story, but now that I see it, one I will never forget. I never realized that he was helping to shape me into the person I am today.
Grandad used to tell stories, a lot of stories. The details would often change each time he told the story so eventually I stopped paying as much attention to them. However there was this one story that he started telling me as a kid and every few years he would bring it up again.
It was from his time in the Coast Guard when he was still a skinny/gangly dude and the best lightweight boxer on his ship. He was always working out every chance he could get. He was always hitting the heavy bag and would stand under the speed bag for some times hours just working his technique, building strength and endurance. As a result of his efforts he was able to dominate all the different fighters that they put in the ring against him and eventually people stopped wanting to fight him.
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