60 Degree Wedge & Hops

After sleeping well, I willingly rolled out of bed eager to begin my day just after 530am. Not five minutes passed before I was engaged in sit-ups and ultimately push-ups. It’s been more than a year since I removed curls from my morning routine. Reason being, too many aches and pains in my shoulders and neck. Recently, however, I’ve considered adding them in again, but perhaps on an every other day basis. I’ve noticed some loss of definition in my arms, and that’s something I worked years to build. I hate to see it wither. After exercise I jumped to the PC with coffee in hand. I checked the weather. It was 50 degrees under partly cloudy skies, and expected to reach into the upper 60’s with sunshine as the day progressed. Nice! I moved from PC to mediation early – about 602am. Like the day before, I meditated before taking Mindy her morning coffee. Back downstairs, I did my stretching then dressed for a run. I’d have to look back in my blog to measure accurately how long I’ve been at this stretching routine, but there’s no denying the results it’s producing. I can easily grab my foot with both hands and hold that pose for more than ten seconds without much discomfort. Initially, I couldn’t even do it. Plus, I can almost touch my nose to my knee on the pull back stretch. Gone are the frequent groin strains and hamstring issues. The neck and shoulder knots are much less frequent now too. All of this I directly attribute to stretching daily. I left for my run perhaps a minute or two after 630am. It's official, I’m embarking on a 5 month stretch time where I’ll be running in daylight from beginning to end. I look forward to this time each spring. I ran four miles without a problem. My vision didn’t seem as clear as it has been since Saturday. I measure it by reading street & real estate signs from a predefined distance. There’s no doubt though that my vision has improved markedly since last week. More good news! I finished my run before 710am. Back earlier than normal, I helped Mindy prepare breakfast. Bella was again grumpy. Allergies seem to be getting the best of her. Her eyes were once again extremely puffy. Jacob was on his momma about his birthday party, which he badly wants to have at the Chiller in Dublin. Mindy shared that it was booked for this coming Saturday, so it would have to be another day. Jacob was hard to live with after that. He stomped off to his room still complaining. I suggested privately, that we go ahead an book it for the following Saturday, even though that’s the day we had planned to go fishing. After Mindy left for work Bella wanted to make sure that I would sit and eat my breakfast with her. She doesn’t like to eat alone. I was off to the shower shortly after 730am and back downstairs ready to go by 755am. Once again, Jacob was already out the door. Bella waited for me patiently. We headed out together. Jacob was out without a jacket once again. I mentioned that he probably should have one on, but he was largely unreceptive to anything I said, still apparently angry over the Chiller party thing. The bus arrived at 805am, and I headed back home to do any last minute prep before heading into work. Included in that prep was loading and running the dishwasher. I toyed with driving the BM’er but settled on the Trooper. I left the house just before 815am. It was a lovely drive in. Gotta love spring mornings. I had a fairly busy morning doing what I do. I planned to escape for lunch and head to Golf Galaxy to buy a new golf glove and look at some other golf items, too. To that end, I left for lunch at 110pm. It was nice but still a tad chilly. It was only in the low 60s. I considered buying a pack of three gloves but decided that to be overkill. Instead, I bought just one, and went back to Foot Joy from Nike. The Foot Joy’s fit better. I ended buying two dozen new balls as well. I like playing with a soft feel, so I went with a Maxfli Soft this time. They were relatively inexpensive – two 15 packs for $25. I bought a new towel that attaches to my golf bag, too. I was going to head to the checkout but decided to look at the new clubs. I love the new irons, but with my golf game being a mess right now, there was no way I was even going to consider buying new. However, I did break down and buy a new 60 degree C-14 Cleveland wedge. They were marked down 20% to make room for this year’s C-15 model. I’ve been looking at that wedge for a year now. Walking to check out I looked at new golf bags and then Rescue hybrids, too, but didn’t bite on either. Time to check out. I spent about $140. I was back at the office just ahead of 2pm. The temperature I noticed seemed considerably warmer than it did just an hour earlier. It was really nice. Too bad I couldn’t head home then. Once settled back in my office, I went for my veggies. I ate them and a can of tuna. Both tasted exceptionally good. My afternoon required a lot of me, but I didn’t mind. That's what I'm paid for. Mindy phoned around 315pm already on her way home. I’d forgotten that this was her professional development day, which she spent at Styles elementary school. It sounded like she was in a good mood. We talked about the kids and more pointedly, how we might help Jacob shake out of his recent state of rebellion. According to Mindy, when asked, he’ll often blame me. Doesn’t like me correcting him. Mindy asked that I remember to praise him more often, but agreed that his antics are worthy of addressing. Here’s my take. Jacob doesn’t need two dads. And he worships the ground his father walks. Consequently, he looks to me for very little. All of this I understand and am OK with. However, there’s a downside. I still have to deliver the daily dad-type correction. And as one might expect, Jacob doesn’t care to be corrected, even when he knows his behavior warrants as much. I want our relationship to flourish, but it can’t be on his terms exclusively. And believe me, I am not trying to infer that I couldn’t do things differently or better. Not at all. I’m sure I can do better too. Like a lot of things, becoming aware is paramount. Moving on… This was Jacob’s soccer night. Mindy, Bella, and I planned to go somewhere for dinner. I suggested Barley’s, but was open to alternatives. I left work for home at 530pm. It was a lovely drive home with oodles of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s. Mindy hollered for Bella once I was home so we could ready for dinner. She came quickly letting out a big ol’ hurrah that we were going to Barley’s. We were on the road after a brief grooming. The lot was only half full. Right away, we spotted Doug & Jamie sitting at the bar. Haven’t seen those two in a month or possibly more. In fact, I’ve been meaning to email Doug just to see what’s up. We sat at the table near them and chatted for sometime before being served. Deanna was working bar – rare. She asked my pleasure. I ordered a Hoptopus. Mindy, somewhat surprisingly, went with water only. Bella ordered lemonade. Jamie left after 20 minutes or so. Had to get home to walk the dog. Doug stayed a while longer. Eventually, we ordered food. Me a Cuban, Bella a kids’ cheeseburger, and Mindy – I can’t recall. I ended up drinking two Hoptopus’, and also picked up the check. We were outta there for home by 740pm. Mindy was right. Jimaken and Jacob were waiting out front of the house. They couldn’t have been there long, however. Practice doesn’t end until 730pm. We brought Jacob some Gates of Hell wings. He tore ‘em up in less than five minutes. Mindy had to nuke the last two. He said they weren’t done well enough. That’s why I always order my wings extra-well done. After Jacob finished his wings, Mindy dispatched both kids for showers. At the same time, I cleaned my golf clubs in preparation for Wednesday’s lesson. I also went out back to hit about five balls with my new 60 degree wedge. Inside, it was time to tuck in the kids. I played with both for a few minutes before tucking them in. Bella saw me eating a fudgesicle and asked if she could come down and have one too. Mindy agreed. Back downstairs I headed for the big familyroom chair. I didn’t even grab my book. I simply through my legs over the arm and took a mini nap. It felt heavenly. Mindy woke me just after 930pm asking if I was coming to bed. Yes.