10 Lanes of Pain

It’s been a rough week for YHC. Each day leading up to this Q has been met by sleeping through the alarm.  So no less than 3 alarms were set to get out of the fart sack this morning.  Only to be woken up by the M telling me to turn off my alarm…

8 gloom warriors appeared in this morning at the Abyss.  There was a small disclaimer on how unprofessional the Q may be, and the fact that all liabilities are waved like so many cell phone screens at a Weird Al concert (I would know, I was there).

A quick mosey to the back parking lot for a very brief warmup.  SSH and some windmills to get the blood moving.  We then moved over to the bus lanes, where most of the workout would focus.  We were about to start The Thang, but with only 8, I wanted to work in the shaolin exercise “Doji”.  (I probably spell it wrong, I never knew how to spell it in the first place).

The Doji is a series of six shaolin exercises meant to work the legs (I can only concretely remember only four).  It’s 30% leg work, 15% foot work, 5% arms, and 50% balance.  We performed only the first of the series.

Doji 1:

  1. Start by standing facing your direction and plant your right foot (by stomping) 90° from your body.
  2. The left leg steps out into a deep forward stance (a lunge, but the back leg is striaght).
  3. Using your left arm (which is in front) using crane (not explained today) overhead scoop behind your body while shifting your body weight to the right leg, straightening the left.
  4.  As your left arm swings down to the ground.  Shift your weight back onto the left
  5. Step forward with the right foot (don’t come up) and use an open palm strike (demonstrated but not explained today)
  6. Shift your weight forward onto the right.
  7. Repeat L and R until you reach the end.  Turn around and go back to beginning

I knew this was very new to everyone, and that it would likely feel awkward.  The PAX followed along very well when I remembered to call movements on time.  YHC was pleased to see everyone participate and keep from letting their bodies rise up.

The Thang!

10 lanes. 10 pains.  Each lane had transportation exercises labeled in chalk (some doubles).  The labels represented a list, not the direction for whomever was in the lane.  PAX lined up (two to a lane) and everyone did the first exercise until they reached the end of the bus parking lane.

When complete, jog to the far end of the lot, turn left and follow the track back to the same spot.  Everyone stayed together and waited patiently for their now humbled Q to catch up after each run. When we completed four exercises we shifted four spots so that we were always standing on something being called.  Here is the list of exercises.

The lanes
1. Dragon Walk
2. Broad Jump
3. Lunge Walk
4. Bear Crawl
5. Crab Walk
6. Dragon Walk
7. Broad Jump
8. Lunge Walk
9. Crawl Bear
10. Burpee Broad Jump

In all the PAX were able to accomplish the first 10 lanes and another 7 before it was time to mosey back to COT.  YHC was in last place during most of the runs and needed a couple ten counts to drop my HR.  I’m still proud of my performance compared to last year.

Mosey back to COT for 70seconds of Mary.  Most people were showing around 3 miles on their wrist gadgets when it was over.  I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going splash merlot every time I saw that diaper sitting under the middle basketball hoop.  I kept thinking “Have I made remark about how this diaper seems to be in the middle of each lap?  I think I have… or am I too tired to talk and just think I said it?” Well, I certainly forgot my age again at the end of name-o-rama, so it’s entirely possible I said nothing.

YHC is truly honored to get to Q at the Abyss.  There were announcements and prayers at the end.

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Big B, little b, what begins with B?

Buddies, Burpees, Bearcrawls, Bodybuilders, Booyah! Merkins and B.O.M.B.S. all start with that letter B, that’s what.

18 attended the Swamp today, half rucked, the other have joined YHC for a little schooling on the letter B.

I decided a couple weeks ago that I was going to work my way through the Exicon one letter at a time.  This was my 2nd Q since making that decision so the 8 unlucky PAX that got stuck with me and B today were thoroughly beat-down.

I gave the quick usual disclaimer an off we went.  I immediately heard grumbling about the speed so I slowed it down a bit and we did some karaoke’s and toy soldiers before circling up for a quick warm-up, which consisted of 9 Windmills and 15 Merkins (IC) followed by a couple 10 counts holding a 6″ plank.  A quick stretch and off to the 1st routine.

Routine 1:

Burpee, Bearcrawl, Booyah! Merkin…Chase

Buddy up and partner 1 does 5 burpees and then chases down his partner who is bearcrawling around the 2 roundabouts (about .25 miles).  Tags his partner and then they each do 5 Booyah! Merkins and switch/repeat until getting back to the starting point.  A real shoulder burner!

Routine 2:

For routine 2 we moseyed to the parking lot next to the fountain and did some B.O.M.B.S.  This is basically a DORA with more exercises and the suggestion to pick an exercise that matches each letter in BOMBS.

  • 50 Bodybuilders
  • 100 Overhead presses (with cinderblocks)
  • 150 Monkey Humpers
  • 200 Big-Boy sit-ups
  • 250 Smurf Jacks (suuuuuucked)

In typical DORA fashion, 1 partner does the exercise while the other (in this case) sprints to the 2nd island, bear crawls around the island, and then sprints back and picks up where his partner left off while his partner does the sprinting.

I think only  Cha-Ching, Duck Dynasty, and I finished, but that was probably because we were the odd group and we took the higher of the 2 reps.  I’m not sure if we would have made it otherwise since it came down to the last few seconds before heading back to CoP.

Everyone did awesome and pushed for the entire 45 minutes.

We made it back to CoP at exactly 6:00AM with the Ruckers about a minute behind.

Maximus announced a couple of new AO’s coming to Fort Mill, including a “Bruisers” workout for injured PAX, what a great idea.  As well as a bootcamp AO with a mandatory pre-run, sounds harsh!  In any case, not a lot of PAX spoke up with Prayers except for Maximus again so we prayed for family and everything that was on our hearts.

Thank you for the Q Cha-Ching it was a pleasure to lead these men today.  Nice work everyone!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

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Warriors, Come Out to Play

7 warriors came out to Pantheon this morning to battle the heat, humidity, and an awful Q.  A clown car came from Lake Ridge filled with smiling faces.  Some complaining about their shoulder pains from Mile High’s Q at Golden Corral. After the disclaimer, we moseyed to the front of the school for some warm up exercises.

COP

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x 10

Windmill x10

Plank and shoulder stretches

 

Next, we walked over to the pillars.  There were 10 exercises written on the pavement.  It appeared they were written by an impaired person since they were not aligned properly (It was dark when I wrote them).  The workout started with the first exercise, once complete, we ran a big lap around the sports field.  Next, we would perform the first and second exercise, once complete, we ran a lap around the parking lot.  Rinse and repeat the pattern until all of the exercises were done.

Exercises:

  • 25 Merkins
  • 25 Flutters
  • 25 SSHs
  • 25 Squats
  • 10 Burpees
  • 25 Mountain Climbers
  • 25 Dips
  • 25 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 25 Plank Punches
  • 50 LBCs

We got through most of the exercises and covered 2 – 2.5 miles running.  At the end, we looked like we jumped in the lake since we were covered with sweat.  My message this morning was about accountability.  I mentioned my 2.0 Sharkbait.  He recently qualified for the Junior Olympics this past weekend.  As a father, I a very proud of him not only about this accomplishment, but his journey to this point.  Earlier this spring, he was struggling with running in Middle School.  When we talked about the struggles, he would point to external things that were preventing him from doing better.  We talked a lot about being accountable for things that are in your control.  In addition, knowing in your mind that you can accomplish the your goals.  After our conversation, he began to take ownership of his training plan and I saw his confidence grow.  Sometimes we all need that little kick to get us started in the right direction.

 

Prayers

Families moving

Auto repairs

Families traveling

 

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Climbing Ladders at the Golden Corral

Golden Corral – The AO that has been revived in recent months thanks to the leadership of Lutefisk.

13 men met at the Harris Teeter parking lot in the gloom on this cloudy morning.

Started with the disclaimer and we were off.

Warm Up

  • Mosey to HT doors
  • 50 YD Bear Crawl
  • Wind Mill X 10
  • Imperial Walker X 10
  • SSH X 15
  • Merkins X 10
  • Mountain Climber X 10
  • Recover and mosey behind red bowl

Once we got behind red bowl I instructed the PAX to partner up.  Size doesn’t matter but what matters is accountability and camaraderie.  Those two things have been a huge part of my success ever since I started F3.

Activity 1

  • Partner 1 50 YD Wheelbarrow
  • 10 Merkins
  • Partner 2 50 YD Wheelbarrow
  • Run back to the beginning (Elbow plank waiting on the 6)
  • Partner 1 50  YD Wheelbarrow
  • 20 Merkins
  • Partner 2 50 YD Wheelbarrow
  • Run back to the beginning (Elbow plank waiting on the 6)

Mosey from Red Bowl to Bakers Buzzin

 

Activity 2

CLIMBING LADDERS

7 stations.  Start at number 1 then move to number 2 and then start over.  Keep climbing the ladder.  You get the gist.

  • 1st cone 10 Burpees (run to 2nd cone)
  • 2nd cone 20 Hand Slap Merkins (Bear Crawl to 3rd cone)
  • 3rd cone 30 Carolina Dry Docks  (Crab Walk to 4th cone)
  • 4th cone 40 Squats (run to 5th cone)
  • 5th cone 50 Flutters SC (Bear Crawl to 6th cone)
  • 6th cone 60 LBCS (Crab Walk to the 7th cone)
  • 7th cone 70 Shoulder taps (Run backwards to the 1st cone)

All the Pax completed 5 out of 6 rounds and one group was halfway done with the final round before we had to mosey back to COT (Fishsticks was waiting for us).  We got in just under 3 miles and around 600 calories burnt.  Excellent push by the PAX.  There was very little mumble chatter towards the end coupled with some moaning and groaning.  Big win for the QIC.

FINAL NUMBERS (Including warm ups)

  • 50 Burpees
  • 140 Merkins
  • 120 CDDS
  • 120 Squats
  • 100 Flutters
  • 60 LBC’s
  • Several Miles
  • The last group can add 10 burpees, 20 Merkins and 30 CDDs to their total

Announcements were covered.

Prayers were said for Change Order’s mother, Pothole’s truck and safe travels for Fishsticks   and his family.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead Lutefisk!

Mile High out

 

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The Honey Badger 1776 Challenge

There was alot of chitter chatter on Twitter…..and Slack……leading up to this workout on 7/1 regarding posting to Badger or some other location in the greater Fort area. I ponder if some thought my idea of a finishing this Badger workout with an earned patch was like luring kids with candy and less worthy. I guess others though 0430 wakeup was a little too early, disturbing their beauty sleep, and had to lament about that as well (even though preruns and prerucks some participate in do indeed launch around that time). I guess  some people still think Badger workouts ONLY come from a book.

Well, I like to think they were all wrong. If others chose to not post to Badger, that’s their choice. That’s part of what 7/4/1776 is all about.

But 11 HIMs did show up early. They heard my disclaimer. We had a VERY brief warmup run then the  COP right at the start

15-20 or so of the following to loosen up a little:
* SSH
* Windmill
* IW
* MNC
* and a few other things

Then off we went to the track/football field for the main event.

The Honey Badger 1776 Challenge

Laps of 400m runs, plus 1,776 Exercises
Not many words of inspiration. Get right into it. OYO, You vs you. Similar to the Fort’s infamous Board of Pain, but I tweaked it a little because wanted everyone to complete it in around 90 minutes, not get 1/2 way only to come back a week later to get 1/2 way again. Q Special was  – if running out of time – allow folks to team up to accumulate/add reps together. Goal is for everyone to complete it in 1.5 hrs or so. We did not need it.
  1. 50 Burpees
  2. 100 Calf Raises (50 Reg / 50 Toe out)
  3. 100 Ski Abs (DC)
  1. RUN 400m
  1. 100 Merkins
  2. 100 LSS
  3. 100 LBC
  1. RUN 400m
  1. 100 CDD
  2. 100 Jump Squat
  3. 100 AMERICAN Hammer (DC)
  1. Run 400m
  1. 100 Overhead Clap
  2. 100 Mountain Climbers (DC)
  3. 100 Hello Dolly
  1. Run 400m
  2. Q Special – Teaming can start after this run pending time remaining
  1. 100 Wide Arm Merkin
  2. 100 Jump Lunge (SC)
  3. 100 Flutter (DC)
  1. Run 400m
  1. 100 Plank Shoulder Tap (SC)
  2. 100 Hillbilly Walker AND – Badger Challenge of 100m Crab Walk
  3. 100 SSH AND – Badger Challenge of 100m Bear Crawl
  1. Run 400m
  1. 26 Burpees
  2. CROSS THE FINISH WITH 400m RUN!!

Music was provided. Not the death metal Dirty wanted to satisfy his unicorn rainbow spirit animal urges, but what I provided was good enough. MAN WAS IT HOT!! We all were completely coated in those little rubber pellets in the artificial turf field. Longshanks was King for sure, but we all pushed each other through it and everyone completed it. That was the goal, and we met it.

As we were around #12 or so the sun started coming up…..an amazing red glow that got brighter and more vibrant as daybreak drew closer. We all took a moment now and then to admire God’s creative artistry on display. It was absolutely stunning. and seeing it as your rounded the curve halfway through a lap was quite motivating. It gave you that little boost only He can do.

Back to the COT for a little discussion on Freedom, getting patched, and A/P/P.

Those who were there earned a “Freedom Isn’t Free” patch. Yes, a patch. For one, in honor of 7/4/1779. For two, the BoP is pretty much a mini CSAUP. Completing a slightly watered down version (half the running. a few different exercises, but more exercises) IMO warranted something to remember that.

Freedoom Isn’t Free

As well drew close to Independence Day on that Monday, I wanted everyone to remember what went into achieving our independence. It is not just about the soldiers who fought and died in the Revolutionary War. They are a huge part of why we have our independence, but so are the people who essentially started the war. In the years leading up to it, the men and women behind the rebellion from British rule were forging the foundation of a new, independent country knowing that their actions could lead to their own death, or to harm of their loved ones. That took alot of courage to stand behind their convictions. They wanted this country to stand and prosper on its own ruling power, but in order to do that they collectively had to stand and fight on their own willpower. They knew that once they declared freedom from the Kingdom of Great Britain, there was no turning back. Either they would become a free country, or they would all die trying. When those 56 men of the Second Continental Congress from the Thirteen Colonies that made up the fledgling nation signed the Declaration of Independence, they knew the gravity of the situation but were more than willing to do so. Their act of signing and ratifying the Declaration of Independence was an act of treason, punishable by death. Those men were hunted down. Their properties, belongings seized. Their families were taken prisoner or sometimes executed as well. But that did not matter to them. While other men were dying on the battlefield, they were dying behind the lines. MANY made the ultimate sacrifice to forge our freedoms. To this day MANY have made the ultimate sacrifice since to ensure they remain in place. Never forget that. Never take anything you are blessed with in this country for granted, for there are MANY with MUCH less. Pay what you have forward to others less fortunate, even if it means taking risks – however they may affect you –  to do so. That’s how this country, and world, will get better. That’s how our country was born.

Happy Independence Day!! Happy Birthday USA!!

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
-NASA

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Keep it Simple

This will probably be the easiest backblast I ever write and it just goes to show, sometimes SIMPLER equals HARDER.

Got the text Sunday following church that we needed a substi-Q for Quagmire and I felt like I really wanted to just run Monday, but miss when I don’t do the boot camps, so what better way than to combine the two.

Let’s get to it:

Dynamic warm-up consisted of a quick mosey to Best Buy where we then lined up and did:

  • power skips half way down the building and then jogged to the end of petsmart
  • side shuffle half way, flip, side shuffle rest of the way
  • karaoke half way, switch, the same
  • back pedaled half way down then jogged to the end end

Did a quick 20 merkins, 20 big boys, 20 peter parker planks (on elbows) and 20 diamond merkins and then we started the real thang.

The balance was something like this:

  • Run a 1/3 of a mile, then do 10 bomb jacks, 15 burpees and 20 pulsating jump squats (half squat, full squat into jump squat = 1), then run another 1/3 mile and do the same 3 exercises / reps and keep doing it until time lol.  We did 4 of those back to back and then took a break to do the following:
  • Partner up at the Verizon by Target – partner 1 runs to rack room shoes (about 1/4 of a mile down) and back while partner 2 does non stop x-crunches (thank you ab app).  The jog was longer than I thought.  1/2 a mile kind of sucked right there.  Sorry not sorry.  65 x-crunches later we switched and partner 2 jogs.
  • From there, we went back to the every 1/3 mile do the 10/15/20 bomb jacks/burpees/pulsating/jump squats until we got back closer to COT.

Ended w/ an all out sprint the length of pet smart / office depot / best buy back to COT.  Props to Pot Hole for saving some in the tank and blowing by everybody.

Final #’s – 3 miles ran, 60 bomb jacks, 90 burpees, 120 pulsating jump squats and about 50-70 x crunches per person.  Not a bad day for a Monday.  Heard heart rates were excessively high which is always a good sign.  Thanks for hanging in there fellas – had a great time leading the pax.  Until next time.

Cha Ching

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A Return To The Corral Which Is Golden

Man, it’s been a long time. It’s been a long time since coming to the Golden Corral, or as it was often referred, the Buffet of Pain but it’s also been too long since my last post. No better way to knock the rust off than by saying yes to Lutefisk’s (just rolls off the tongue) invite and Qing Golden Corral yesterday. Trying not to lower the bar that has been established, I had to ensure the Weinke was full of all your favorite buffet options. After all, we’re not mailing this one in.

24 (23 really since Fish Sticks joined us at the end after getting his brisk miles) other hard-chargers, including feisty “Shin-Guard” joined me at 0515 to review the disclaimer and conduct a little warm up jog around the parking lot, ending up at the top, furthest from HT.

Warm-up:

Wind Mills, Jump Squats, Merkins, Diamond Merkins, Side-Straddle Hops, Carolina Dry Docks

Line up facing the Teeter. Run down to the store and Nur back to our starting point. REPEAT.

2 PAX at a time, run 1/2 way to Teeter then run back. We’d get through all 24 of us but the catch is that while you’re not running, you’re doing your best Flying Squirrels. See CSPAN, we still love you.

Reminder of 2 points (which is hard to stay accountable to when you don’t post for a while):

  1. C.O.T. Integrity – Don’t be a hypocrite. Be the same man outside the C.O.T. as you are inside it.
  2. Kotters – Bring ’em back. They’ll fight you but they want to be back AND we want them back.

More details were shared but you had to be there.

The Entree: 10 reps of 10 exercises and we’re cycling through 10 times (lofty desire). After each round, we’d run 1 set of 2-tiered suicides.

10 exercises were:

Burpees, Wide-Arm Merkins, Jump Squats, Mak Tar Jai’s, Knee Tar Jai’s (modified at the sight of bloodied knees to just doubling the yet to-be mentioned Jumping Lunges), Dips, Peter Parkers, Parker Peters, Jumping Lunges, Carolina Dry Docks.

We made it through 4 rounds.

HEY, welcome to Fish Sticks.

Until Next Time,

Maximus

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Partner Work at Golden Corral – Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

14 HIM joined YHC for some partner work at Golden Corral. They were invited to bring some extra weight for extra credit…some took me up on this offer…probably a bad decision.

Mosey to top of the road next to apartment complex for Warmup.

Warmup:

  • 25 side straddle hops
  • 10 4-count windmills
  • 10 4-count peter parkers
  • 10 4-count parker peters
  • 10 4-count merkins
  • 20 Moroccan night clubs

Mosey to the bottom of the hill for the Workout.

Workout:

  • Partner Up
  • Complete the following total reps per partnership. One partner does reps, the other runs to the top of the hill, does 10 SSHs, runs back down and flip flops with partner.
  • Reps
    • 100 burpees
    • 200 merkins
    • 200 big boy situps
    • 300 air squats

Mosey back to COT.

Announcements: upcoming Sweaty.

Prayers/Praise: Prayers for Bates family in Columbia w/ loss of son. Praise for fighting complacency. Praise for one of the PAX’s health improvement.

Always fun to lead.

– Ginsu

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If Wilt Chamberlain met Nicole (well he probably did)

It was cool morning and 11 showed up for my Q at the Abyss. I gave a brief but full disclaimer. We did a fast mosey, because they don’t always have to be slow (I picked this up from a Backblast where Duck Dynasty “Cobain’d” for a fast mosey and Maximus said that they are fine and not really intended to be slow but they have evolved into being slow). We circled up for COP in the grass because only snowflakes circle up on the clean smooth asphalt and I ain’t no Snowflake (poor grammar intended).

COP was basically a modified Worse Merkin Ever Routine (hats off to Whitesnake who caught on after we departed the workout).
30 SSH in Cadence followed by 15 Ranger Merkins in Cadence (correct Merkins) – Royale said something about liking that I do 15 instead of 10 (or at least that is what i heard).
30 Seal Jacks in Cadence followed by 15 Werkins in Cadence
15 Smurf Jacks in Cadence followed by 10 Diamond Merkins
(O’Reilly does not like my COP’s, he would prefer Windmills or something like that, but see above – I ain’t no Snowflake) Kidding……Windmills are ok to do also.

We then took a long run around the school and then regrouped at the Monkey Bars where we performed a “Nicole”
(Nicole is one of the girls of Cross-fit. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Pax will complete AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) of the following: Run 400m; Pull-ups AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) Mix up the pull-ups, chin-ups etc. as you see fit.; Repeato until the timer sounds.)

We still had time so we then started and almost completed the “Wilt Chamberalin”
(Space cones 100 ft apart. Length of basketball court. Line up at first cone do 100 lbc’s then run to second cone do 100 squats back to first do 100 flutter kicks(each leg) then end back at second to finish off with 100 lunges(50 each leg). Nice ab and lower body routine. Named for Wilts NBA record 100 pt game.) Copyright got called out by a couple guys (O’Reilly) for bailing on the Lunges and jumping ship or “Turncoat” as O’Reilly kidded around saying should be his new F3 name. But O’Reilly did not realize that Copyright did like 500 Weighted Lunges the prior day.

I then asked if anyone wanted to say their reps and 1 Pax (Flux) stated he did like 100 Pull ups and like 6 Miles and I told him that I researched what “Nicole” averaged and he was almost as good as her. Of course I added to what ever Flux told me and tried to make him feel less of a man. I did no such research of course. Well it was approximately 12:30 and it apparently was in his head and he called BS on my research. I didn’t think it would have taken till 12:30 though.

Finished up with a COT a couple prayer request (Joie heading to Guatemala, Whitesnake has a friend in a dark place in life, and a couple others I am sorry I forgot them but I know now more than ever that the Lord heard them!!!!!!! I also had an unspoken one that is really heavy on my heart right now and engulfing my mind with fear so if you are ready this please include my M in your prayers.

Thanks Copyright for the chance to lead such a good group of men.

Two Ferns

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Gemini Birthday Bash

The Thang:

Mosey to the parking lot near the tennis courts

COP: Hillbilly Walkers(20x), Imperial Walkers (15x), 1 min of 7 burpees and 33 SSH, 3x

Mosey to the band’s practice parking lot

Jack Webb Style with Crackin Burpees for the 1 and Bobby Hurley for the 4 with 3-4 partners for encouragement

Bomb Jacks (100x), Overhead Claps (200x), Merkins (100x), Big Boy Sit Ups (100x), Squats (200x)

Moleskin:

On this glorious day, we followed our own advice of not “going it alone.” So we decided to lock shields to celebrate the 40th birthday of two Geminis that were born two days apart. We are humbled and honored by the love and support of our F3 brothers for our birthday bash. We can’t thank you enough.

As we turn 40 years old, we understand that we are progressing into the next season of life. Age 0 to 20 is the spring season where we identify who we are. Age 20 to 40 is the summer season where we learn and grow. Age 40 to 60 is the fall season where we influence others. Age 60+ is the winter season where we share wisdom with others.

What season of life are you in? Own it. Celebrate life and your season daily.

Peace,

Deacon & Shady

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