Defeat at the Pool    Part 4
a boomer story	


Continuing the worst day of my life.  I had already lost armwrestling
matches to my wife Julie, my daughter Linda, and her friend Debbie.
As I was being forced forced to bow in defeat to my wife as my
daughter took a picture, my mother-in-law Nancy came into the
backyard.  She asked what was going on.

Mom and me just beat Daddy at armwrestling said my daughter.
He's big, but not very strong.  Now what guy doesn't want to hear
that his daughter considers him a weakling.  Nancy asked me
if this was true and Julie told me I had better answer truthfully
(it sounded like an order).  Yes I sheepishly admitted.

Somehow I just knew what was coming next.
You've always been pretty athletic, mom, said my wife.
Why don't you give him a try.  Nancy was a handsome
woman in her late 50's and had maintained a nice figure
over the years.  She had been a horsewoman in her
youth and now played tennis to stay in shape.  However,
I had never thought of her as being particularly strong or
muscular.  She was 5'5'' and weighed around 130.

I'll give it a shot Nancy said.  I was pretty good when I
was a kid.  I've got some pretty nice tennis muscles.
She then flexed her arm.  Nice definition but not a lot
of size.  My arm was much bigger and she "was" in
her 50's.  I was running out of women in the family so
I figured this was my best shot at winning one.
I was surprised however that she had so easily agreed
to the match.  It didn't seem in character.

We locked hands and her grip was nowhere near as firm
as my wifes or daughters.  I was in no mood for playing
around at this point so I decided to go all out from the
get go.  I gained an immediate advantage and slowly
started moving her arm downward.  The only problem
was that the progress was slow and I was a little worn
out from my 3 defeats.

My momentum started to stall and she was able to stop
me about 3/4 of the way down.  Now we were deadlocked.
We held there for about 30 seconds.  I knew I better not
let her make a comeback.  Obviously strength was a
genetic thing for the women in the family.  I was
beginning to tire, just too much female muscle had
been thrown my way in one day. 

Nancy was working hard.  She was flushed, be it with
excitement or strain I did not know, I couldn't tell. I 
glanced at her arm and her golf ball sized bicep was now
more the size of a baseball.  I decided to go for it and
there was movement.  Unfortunately for me it was in
the wrong direction.  Nancy had moved my arm slightly
back.  My wife and daughter were cheering her on.
My arm started shaking and she moved me back to
the start position.  We were probably two minutes into
the match and were back where we started.

The only difference I could tell was that my arm felt
like rubber and Nancy looked pretty calm.  She was
straining hard but seemed fresh.  My arm moved slightly
into a losing position.  Julie and Linda were screaming 
for Nancy to pour it on.  Nancy and I locked eyes and
heres seemed to twinkle.  This is fun she said. I haven't
beat a boy since I was 11 years old.  I was glad she
was having a good time.

Nancy let out a grunt and started me downward.  Her
bicep looked like a rock now and she seemed to gain
confidence by the second.  She wasn't overpowering
me but she was winning.  I fought for every inch but
was losing ground.  Julie and Linda were hysterical
now and Nancy had a smile on her face.  This
"mature" woman, a grandmother, was on the verge
of defeating her much bigger son-in-law in a direct
test of strength.

Defeat was now seemingly inevitable but I wasn't giving
up.  Sadly for me neither was Nancy.  I refused to lose
but the old slogan where there's a will there's a way
was being shattered, as was my self esteem.
Nancy said "I can do this" and she did.  My arm was
slowly but steadily pushed to the table.  Finally with
one last exertion victory was hers.

"Way to go Grandma" said my daughter.  
"You're the best" said my wife.
"Wait till I tell the ladies at the tennis club"
said my mother in law.

"What do you think" Nancy asked me as she
flexed her petite but hard bicep in front of me.
What could I say but you're one strong grandmother
I said.  Nancy laughed and said she didn't really think
so but then she had just defeated a much larger male
in armwrestling so maybe she was.

My wife and daughter came over and I was treated to
3 generations of female biceps being flexed.  I probably
would have been really turned on if I wasn't so embarassed.
What a sight.  They ranged in age from 14 to 58 and all
were stronger than me.  My wife and daughter came over,
literally lifted me up and threw me in the pool.  Cool off
my wife said for when I got out I had housecleaning to
do and dinner to cook.

The 3 of them sat down and discussed their victories.
They then started to wonder who else they could get to
wrestle me.  I knew that my days of chauvinism were
over and my life had just taken a dramatic turn.