Golf & Broken Windows

I didn’t sleep that well, tossing and turning numerous times after first waking around 230am. But thankfully, all the extra sleep I’ve gotten of late helped minimize any fatigue I might’ve otherwise felt come 530am. I pushed through my morning calisthenics then turned my attention to PC playtime. I surfed for pleasure until 607am when I stopped to pour Mindy’s coffee. By the way, it was again crystal clear with the temperature hovering just under 40 degrees – not bad at all. Meditation and stretching went as well as expected. I was ready for my run by 635am. I noticed the winter wicking shirt I planned to wear reeked to high heaven. I figured I’d get one more run out of it. Aren’t I Mr. Efficiency? Pewh! I ran four miles. My calves felt better than the day before – almost back to normal. While running, I settled on the idea of golf after work. No since wasting such a lovely day. We were expecting brilliant sunshine and a high of 64. I’d reach out to Tom C. once at work to measure his interest. Once home, I shared my intentions with Mindy over breakfast. She seemed OK with it. Mindy, I noticed, was wearing a little black dress to school. She quickly shared that it was spring picture day. She looked nice! Bella was having a dippy-egg right along with Mindy & I – rare. We practiced spelling words over breakfast: keeper, supper, easy, almost, and bourbon. OK, bourbon wasn’t really one of her words.  Mindy left a little after 730am and I headed up for shower. We regrouped downstairs at 754am. The kids were excited to be wearing their new tennis shoes. I really like Bella’s. They’re black but with a splash of bright color and shiny silver shoe strings. We met Chrissy, Makayla and Lillian at the bus stop. Kenny left for the airport at 430am. The kids were gone by 805am. I was off to work five minutes later with my golf clubs already on board from the day before. We had an executive in town for town hall meetings. I attended the morning session. Beyond my usual duties, I set up a couple more interviews for Friday, and tried catching up on my administrative tasks. I called and talked with Tom C. This was his normal day off, although he planned to work OT for a couple of hours mid-day. He sounded excited about getting out for golf around 430pm. Cool. We agreed to meet at Thornapple. I made sure my boss was OK with me leaving a little early for golf. No worries. Ashley called mid-day asking if we would keep Olivia overnight Friday so she could work OT on Saturday. I talked with Mindy about it around 4pm and also let her know that golf was on. She was somewhat reluctant about the Friday sleepover but eventually agreed fully. That made me happy. I left at 425pm. It was such a lovely afternoon. The sunshine was brilliant, and there was next to no chill in the air. Heading west, I decided it a great time to put the windows down in the Trooper, the passenger side for the first time since having it repaired. But right away, there was that familiar pop from the passenger window. Crap! I knew what had happened. The clips snapped. The window was again broken. Geesh. So, now here I am. Both my windshield and passenger side window broken. I felt unlucky- snakebitten. All I could do was chuckle at my predicament. I arrived at Thornapple ahead of Tom. That’s no surprise. I’m usually first. The lot was almost empty. Now that was a surprise given the exceptional weather. I changed into my golf shoes and threw on a thin, long-sleeved black wicking shirt for warmth then headed to the practice green. I chipped two or three balls up to the green before Tom arrived. Honestly, I expected him to be another 10-15 minutes. Great! The green fees were just $10 each - another pleasant surprise. Must be early season – pre-spring pricing. Cool. We both got a pull cart too. Tom picked up the fees. We tee’d off the front nine with no one insight in front of us. Neither of us took any real practice swings. It felt great to be in the sunshine and on the golf course. I battled a slice with most of my drives, but not all. Honestly, though, I prefer that over a severe hook. I simply need to get my timing down. I had my usual handful of ugly mis-hits, too. I’m determined to get to a pro this spring to get my swing fixed. The same thing happened several years ago, but after one lesson with a pro I was better than ever. Given my love of the game and frequency of play, it'll be money well spent. Tom played better than usual. We talked about all sorts of stuff. Among the topics, I shared that I was following through on plans to get LASIK. He talked about doing it too, but hasn’t yet committed. It’ll be nice to golf with out eye glasses. I invited Tom to join us at Barley’s this Saturday with the kids and Rene. Said he might show up. We played thirteen holes (1-9 and 10, 11, 17 & 18). It was 730pm when we finished. I called Ashley on my drive home and shared that we would happily keep Olivia Friday night. Ashley said that she would bring her over around 6pm. She also shared that there were massive layoffs taking place at her company and how worried she is that her group will be next. However, she’s already got an offer from another company, her mother’s workplace, but is reluctant to take the offer for various reasons. I listened and then offered a bit of fatherly advice. Once home, I was eager for something substantial to eat. Mindy and the kids were scurrying around doing homework and such. After a brief greeting, I warmed leftover meatloaf. It was awfully tasty. I filled up in a hurry. We all changed into our bed clothes. The kids headed to bed around 840pm. Mindy & I snuggled up on the sofa where we watched The Learning Channel – a program about the many invasive species introduced into South Florida that threaten to upset the fragile ecosystem. Among them, the Burmese python, Pouch rats, monitor lizards.