The Strongest Man in the World

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Not real keen on being 44 - I suffered through my ankle injury - it's feeling much better, thank you, but Sunday found my temple of a body to be an inviting host to a cold virus. Luckily there wasn't a lot to do on Sunday, so I rested well. Yet Monday morning found me to be feeling under the weather as well.

I jumped out of bed and headed down to see the boys as they prepared for school. I didn't feel much like joking, but we always share a laugh before I leave. Jake picked right up on my cold - "I thought you were too big and strong to get a cold," he said. "Ah, poor baby, suck it up."

I explained that I planned on sucking it up and heading off to work. "I can't be held down by a cold," I said. "I'm the strongest man in the world."

Of course, Kathy was passing by. "You're the strongest man in the world?" she asked.

I heard the kids laugh.

"Of course I am," I said. "I'm big, I'm strong, and gosh-darn-it people like me." Of course I was doing the old Al Franken bit from SNL, but it struck Jake funny. "People like him, that's a good one."

Yet there is something to positive thinking. I knew a kid in high school who said he never got sick because it was simple mind over matter. "Only the weak get sick," he said. "It's all in your head."

Not sure I buy all of that, but we do have a tendency to believe what we tell ourselves to believe.

So today, I'm the strongest man in the world - and gosh-darn-it people like me.

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