Cocky
That smile
The Strongest Man I Ever Met
Hands down was my grandfather Tom Cowley. Which was saying something concidering he was over 60 when this happened.
Back in 1986 I was just before the start of my junior year in high school, I was in probally the best shape of my life. Grandpa had brought my mother & I two engines and transmissions, for each of our Ford Pintos (G-Pa loved his Pintos). The motors were in the back of his trusty ford pick-up. Being the big strong kid I was, he picked me to help him get the motors & trannys out of his truck. As soon as we got outside I volunteered to get the heavier front half of the motor, to which I was promptly told " No you just get the the back-end ( lighter half) I'll get the front." I tried to talk him out of it, but that went no where fast.
So I thought I'd try to circumvent his plans by grabbing half-way up the transmission. So G-pa hops up in the bed of the truck, properly bends his knees and we carry the 2 pieces to the end of the trucks bed. At which point he puts down the motor and hops down to help me lower it all down to the ground. BUT.... in the brief moment where I'm holding everything, that damn thing was so heavy I could feel the sweat popping through the skin of my forehead.
Now here is what blew me away that day......
I'm doing EVERTHING in my power to just hold on and not drop this load onto the garage floor. So like I said earlier, he simply hopped down, but instead of like earlier when we 1st picked it up and used all the correct methods (bending your knees & getting directly over the object you want to lift), he just reached over and grabbed the biggest /lowest pulley on the motor and without even making a face, like it was AT LEAST a little bit heavy picked it up off the tailgate and we set it down. Only thing was that my arms & legs felt like they were on fire, I was sweating & out of breath...... and all he says to me is.... " Are you ready for the next one? "
Hey Grandpa, I wanted to ask you a little favor......
when it's my turn to get to see you & G-ma again... Could you just make sure that my mom isn't late picking me up. We all know how she can be.... LOL