Welcome to Two Dollars

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True story...

 

I was 12 years old.

 

I played a bit of baseball when I was that age and had an interest in sports - especially the Olympics. But, at the time, I was barely five feet tall and nothing close to being an athlete. One day I was reading a comic book and on one of the last pages there was a small black and white advertisement from a man named Charles Atlas. He was a muscle man. The ad said that if you sent two dollars to such and such an address he would send you a Charles Atlas workout poster with exercises that would help build you up to look like him. 

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It sounded great. So I took $2 out of my newspaper money, cut out the ad, sent it in and waited for a couple of months. And it finally arrived.

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I tacked it to a wall in our basement and realized that I would need a set of weights. Christmas was coming and my father asked what I would like and I told him.. He was surprised but come Christmas morning a set of beginners weights were under the tree.

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The rest of the story is in the video - where it has taken me. The tops of mountains, the people that I have met over the years.  And in my early twenties I was able to train with future Olympic medalists in pursuit of my own Olympic dream. Forty five years later and the weights and fitness remain an important part of my life. Ask me about my New Balance running shoes some time.

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And it is all because of a single two dollar bill and a comic book advertisement.

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We all have stories like this. That seemingly small gesture completely changed my life and continues to do so every day.

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Two Dollars is for those who want to share their own Two Dollar moments and enjoy other stories that will make you smile in awe and amazement.

 

That is where this all started....

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