Weather: Who cares?
F3Hartsville took a gut punch this past weekend. One of our Redwoods, a warrior, known and respected by all, ran his last mile. His finish line came up before any of us expected it to. In retrospect, I can't think of a more fitting way for Waterbug to pass away. He was running with a couple of fellow pax, both of whom came into F3 out of shape and needing encouragement to step up as leaders of men. Both Paula Dean and Skinny Pete have been transformed by their participation in F3 in general and by their relationship with Waterbug specifically. The light shines brightest when the night is darkest.
To honor Waterbug's legacy, everyone agreed that this special Tuesday Convergence should feature some classic Waterbug tortures.
LoveBug led us out.
All pax gathered up and planked in a moment of silence around the flag.
SSH IC x 20
Reach Thrus IC x 20
GroundBlind took over.
Count off in 4's. Everybody got it right until some guy from Revo showed up late and said "FIVE!" We have to give Revo pax a pass, because they chose to stay up from last night's HH and walked over from Mac's. #Respect.
Station 1
Spartan bucket carry and spear throw. Lawn darts in the dark with a flashy hula-hoop while pax run close by is a thing. This ain't no place for sissies. Speaking of sissies, YHC pulled up lame with a busted groin thanks to whuppin' Southern Belle's rump in the NFL Combine queue. The bucket finished YHC off. Judge Judy did my burpees.
Station 2
March Madness. WB was renowned for his work with balls. He loved his balls, especially sharing them with other pax. Only in F3 would that sentence be OK.
10 Merkins right hand on ball
5 Bball burpees/10 leg raises with ball
10 Merkins left hand on ball
5 Bball burpees/10 leg raises with ball
10 Diamond merkins on ball
5 Bball burpees/10 leg raises with ball
10 Elf on the shelf to the right/10 to the left
5 Bball burpees/10 leg raises with ball
10 Squat thrusters with the ball
5 Bball burpees/10 leg raises with ball
Station 3
Plank-o-rama
Waterbug was known for his yoga affinity. Many new pax would snicker until they started doing the workout.
High plank
Floyd Mayweathers (from plank position, reach through and punch, IC)
Catalina wine mixers IC
Superman/canoe
Low plank
Various planks till time is called
Station 4
12 Days of Christmas, Waterbug Style
It's not the loud talkers that you need to fear. Eisenhower, Barfly and Judge Judy are harmless. It's the quiet pax that scare me. Waterbug sat up late every night thinking of new ways to punish pax. Evidently Christmas time was especially hard for Waterbug, as he chose to take out all his anger and frustration from growing up in Goldilock's shadow on the poor innocent pax who showed up for 12 Days of Christmas.
Perform Day 1 and run to cones and back.
Perform Day 2, then day 1 and run to cones and back.
Repeat and keep adding another day until you get to Day 12, Day 11, etc. etc.
1 x Diamond Merkin
2 x Jump Lunges (2 ct)
3 x Plyo or Hand release merkin
4 x Carolina Dry dock
5 x Burpees
6 x Plank Jacks
7 x Jump Squats
8 x Inchworms
9 x Ranger Merkins
10 x Mountain climbers (2 ct)
11 x Rollups
12 x Groiners
All pax gathered back up around the flag. YHC, aka Blue Falcon, requested a round of Banjo Bear Crawl, but the pax beat me down. Thunderbird came into the center and led the pax in some Jane Fonda/Richard Simmons inspired plank leg thrust twist thingy. Audit pretty much just laid on his side and tried to look like Hugh Hefner. Not sure why he would do that in front of a bunch of men. Judgement Free Zone.
Count-off
All pax counted off. Revo dudes evidently were fully awake as we got it right all the way around the circle.
Name-O-Rama
In a beautiful display of solidarity, memory and respect, each pax said, "Farrell Talbert. 45. Waterbug" one at a time. It took a while, because we had so many pax, which made it even more powerful. Waterbug's name resonated across the field. His name will not be forgotten. His legacy is written on our lives.
Announcements
1pm Visitation at the Lakeview Baptist Church Family Life Center (Gym)
2pm Funeral service. All pax are requested by Waterbug's M to sit together and wear an F3 armband.
Graveside memorial with F3 participation. Details to follow
5:30pm Revolution Waterbug Q
BOM and Devo by Divac
One of Waterbug's last Q's was a Convergence Christmas Q, where he opened up about his battle with depression. It was tough for him to get through it, but he did it. The pax stepped up and showed great support for him. Waterbug was excellent at all things, including his Devo's.
Transparency vs. Vulnerability
I thought about telling a highlight reel of stories of Waterbug. But there have been a lot of stories shared already and I know later today and in the days and weeks to come more and more will be told. All of these stories are great and true. But the gloom is meant to get better, to sharpen each other. That’s what Waterbug did every chance he had so that’s what we’ll do this morning.
A few weeks ago, at the anniversary convergence we spoke about living more out of our true selves. In the COT we regularly see brothers be transparent. This is something few men in our society do. Few men get up in front of others and share what is going on in their lives. But guys, I’m here to tell you it’s not enough. What we need is not transparency but vulnerability.
"Transparency" means, by definition, the ability to see through something. So when someone's being transparent with you, they're letting you see into their lives. They'll let you know what's going on and even inform you about how they've been feeling. But while people who are transparent will share openly, they do so in a self-conscious, controlled way. In other words, they're presenting a processed, polished version of themselves.
"Vulnerability" though is a little different. When someone's being vulnerable, they're making themselves susceptible to the judgment of others. Vulnerability means they don't just let you know what's going on in their lives - they let you actually see how everything is affecting them. This involves them letting their guard down and relinquishing control. In other words, they're presenting an unprocessed, unpolished version of themselves.
The tricky thing about "transparency" is that it makes us think we know a person. After all, they're opening and sharing about themselves. But that's the thing - people who are only transparent tend to only share about themselves. We know a lot of facts about them, but we don't really know them.
For example, if a friend told me that he lost his job, I'd feel sad and hope he finds a new one soon. However, if he told me he lost his job and now he feels completely lost - I'd feel strangely closer with him. Why? Well when someone loses their job, that tells me about his circumstances. But when he tells me how he's handling his circumstances, that tells me a lot about him.
And that's why it's probably difficult for us to be vulnerable with others because when doing so, we're letting people get to know the real us. And we don't want people to know the real us because if they do, then they now have the power to reject us. And we don't want that. That's why it's easier to put people at arms-length and tell them just enough so that they don't have to really know us.
We can’t be vulnerable with everyone. We can’t be vulnerable with our entire AO. We can be transparent, and that’s a good thing. But the hard thing, which is what we do in F3, is intentionally cultivating those relationships with a few people where we can be vulnerable.
We love you Waterbug.
