Honoring Double Trouble Auithentically

The BackBlast:

In the spirit of full transparency I did not recall that I had the Q for Diamondhead until Skoal Bandit reminded me of it yesterday afternoon. We had already received word that Double Trouble had passed a few hours before.  I pulled a muscle in my lower back and was actually 50/50 about posting until I got that reminder.    Coming off of IR to Q at diamondhead is tough. And this workout was important, which made me want to Q and not want mess it up at the same time.

So  I Q’d.

And I messed it up.

I mean really—I had told Wanda we would co-Q as he had not been Q before.  We talked about it and then when yesterday’s news came in I forgot about that.  So when he moseyed up this A.M. I had to tell him what we were doing.  I didn’t go into details, just said that our friend Double Trouble had passed from COVID and that we were honoring him with our workout.  He replied that he had lost a close friend of the family to Covid over the weekend as well. He dug what we were doing and we moved on. All good.

But first we did the Standard, because I never mess up the standard.  The lads from Split Endz joined in for COP and then skedaddled—this was planned.  They would return for COT.

I had a solid plan—10 KB exercises done 10 times for ten sets with a Tabatta timer to give us roughly 4 minutes to get each set done.  20 seconds of rest between sets. Which means we should have been able to get all 1000 reps in by the end. I handed out sheets with the exercises on them—and this was my error. I have done this twice before and I handed out 2 different workouts.  Either way you were doing 1000 reps, just not the same exercises.  However, this was a very authentic Diamondhead workout.  And by authentic I mean that this group pretty much does what they want no matter what you tell them. In that way, the spirit of Double Trouble was honored in an honest manner.

Exercises were all KB and included protractor, snatch, clean, squats, curls, triceps extensions, upright rows and Lou gainis.   However, some guys went running laps and Nibbler and Gaap exchanged recipes. I think cannoli was there but maybe that was an illusion.

NMM: Here’s the important part of what happened this morning.  I mean a workout is a workout, no matter how hard or different it is.  But afterwards, when the prayer was done and pax were headed to their cars Wanda moseyed up to me.

His eyes were wet.

His voice was a little shaky.

“The family friend I mentioned was Steve Vaughn. I didn’t know him as Double Trouble. He was my dad’s best friend. Those albums from him that are on the wall of your office? They listened to those together. Those ticket stubs that you have on your walls? My Dad went with him to those shows.”

All I could say was “This is not an accident.  “

And I believe that in my heart of hearts.  Wanda was in no shape to Q for the first time.  But he needed to be there this morning. Neither of us new that the friend we had lost yesterday was the same guy.  But I believe our God knew, and that’s why we were both there.

I will miss DT.  I’ll never be able to stop thinking about him because his name is scrawled on so many albums.  DT was always kind, friendly, and jovial. Honor his memory by doing the same thing.  Maybe host a First Friday Fire Pit this week.  Hang out a little longer after a workout.  Discuss the importance of Till Tuesday, REM, Hudu Guru or Elvis Costello.

Be a good guy today.  DT can’t make it but I bet he’s watching.

playlist:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2l9Xv7dIp4ETdlhraq6uEG?si=lpocia9rR4u2JkU00LNWXg