Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow

The streak is going hot and heavy. Thursday morning, I was in the pool and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was training rather than just swimming a little. I wasn't training, really, and my partner, Tyler, cancelled. But I am used to training exercising alone. I did a total of 1,000 yards with a 400 straight in there. I know what you are thinking, "Oh how the mighty are fallen." I'm thinking that too. But the mighty are coming back. Slowly.

We had a nice day at school. At lunch, we all had a sit down meal together, and it was good. Culinary did the meat, beef tenderloin cooked medium rare and juicy. I could have eaten six pounds of that. When I left work, I had that free feeling. I am off for a week. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

I only shuffled 2.1 miles after a nice nap in the afternoon. The plan was to let the legs recoup some for Friday's run. I hope to run longish Friday. 

After the run and some more rest, I went to the City. Giant was on TCM, and I watched it while I bench pressed, hit the seated dip, did some external rotations for the shoulders, and hit both the speed and heavy bags. It was nice out there, and Pee Wee played with his toys while I played with mine.

Getting back to Giant, that is one of my all-time favorite movies, and it is very close to making the list of films that I show in my Film as Literature class. It is a feminist film, but not the crazy kind of feminism we have today. I love how the movie slowly and subtly shows Luz Benedict's influence over her husband and the ranch Reata. When the movie opens, the house the Benedicts live in sits in the middle of desert, nothing around it but cows. Inside, the walls are all panelled with the dark panelling that was common in that day. Slowly as the years progress, there are trees, then the inside of the mansion is painted in lighter colors. Later, there is a swimming pool and fencing and grass. None of this would have happened without Luz's feminine influence.

I could go on and on about the movie. The part that hits me the hardest, however, is when Bick and Luz are chatting after Bick was beaten up at the diner because Bick stood up for some Mexican-Americans, again, Luz's influence. Luz says, "That's when you finally became my hero. Isn't that what you always wanted, to be my hero?" 

"I guess," Bick mumbles.

Well, I can say it louder than that, and I can answer for all men. "Yes!" Every man wants to be his wife's hero. When I was doing the Chicot Challenge, one of the things that kept me training when I was tired and wanted to take a day off or cancel the whole thing was, I knew at the end of it Penny would tell me she was proud of me. That would always almost make me melt. Ladies, the power you have over your husband is immense. Use it for good, to make him a better man, like Luz did with Bick. 

Giant, if you haven't seen it in a while, watch it. If you haven't exercised in a while, get out the door and do something. If you haven't gone to church in a while, do that too. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.