Golf is for lovers. Or not.

Golf is a really hard sport. Physically, mentally, emotionally. It can fuck with your head like little else in life. I know women who refuse to play with their spouses, and Men who say that they are grateful that their wives don't play. I understand it.

Back when I was first learning how to play Nate was a bit of a......Jerk? on the golf course. He was a little too......intense? Like, he took every round and every stroke a little too seriously. He could work himself up into a frenzy where he would just make everything worse. And I, being the person playing with him, would totally let it affect me. Its almost impossible to NOT let someone having an adult temper tantrum affect you. You get tense, and as anyone who plays golf knows, tension is the enemy of the golf swing.

Anyway. At one point years ago I snapped. I told him that he obviously WASN'T as good as he thought he was if EVERY ROUND he was upset at the way that he played. I told him that he was NOT fun to play with, and that if he couldn't change his attitude on the course, I didn't want to play with him anymore. I think that my Dad also dropped some subtle hints one day, something along the lines of ~ life is hard and stressful, golf is a game. If golf stresses you out, don't play it. Anyway. The whole thing was super ironic as Nate is one of the most easy going and kind and laid back guys on earth, while I am more intense and easily annoyed ..... yet I generally don't get upset on the golf course and here he was throwing fits. It is a hilarious reversal of real life, how we emotionally and mentally approach golf. Moving along. He got the hints and chilled the heck out on the course, bringing his usual demeanor to the course. I think that having kids helped a lot ~ suddenly getting out was WAY more of a treat and we treasured the time too much to waste a second of it being sullen or upset. It was lovely.

Yesterday I opted for cardio again as I have just been feeling sluggish and off my game lately. I also am still cramming to get my book read by tonight. After that I ran some errands and then got the call that Nate was able to meet me at the course to play 9. I hurried over, changed, and we raced out to the first tee. It just wasn't great from the start. Anyway,it was a long 9. I think that I'm getting spoiled playing with women lately! Women are ~ like ~ the DIRECT opposite of playing with men. We all watch one another's shots. We praise one another. We celebrate with one another. We give one another strategic advice, perhaps about when to lay up or when to take an unplayable ball. Its just DIFFERENT. So yesterday, listening to Nate grumble about every one of his shots and hardly notice mine, I felt......well, I felt angry. And getting angry on the golf course is about as good for ones game as playing with your eyes closed. Anyway.......for the first time in years I understand why some wives wont play with their husbands!!!! I'm vaguely relieved about the clubs archaic rules about women not playing before 11 on Saturdays and Sundays.....I'll stick to play with the ladies, thanks :) This sounds awful and like I'm throwing Nate under the bus, and I don't mean to, he is a fantastic husband and in full disclosure part of his problem on the course yesterday was that he was "working" while we were playing, which of course leads to lack of attention to everything else.

Anyway. Golf is hard. And when you are angry or upset, golf is impossible. That's all I have to say about that.

Today was Dance Party. I just can't even tell you how much fun this class is. For a full 60 minutes I have a huge smile on my face, and nothing outside that room exists. I'm so not a natural dancer that I have to concentrate on everything that I am doing, or I lose track of what is going on and its all over. I feel like dancing is great for my brain in that sense ~ like they tell you to do sudoku or other things that force your brain to think in different ways? Well, that is dancing for me. It 100% forces me to concentrate on what I am doing in order to make my body move in different ways. Just like yoga or running, I get totally immersed in what I am doing. Every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror there is a huge grin on my face. I've made new friends in the class, and I swear its changed my abs. Dancing is a fabulous workout. If you have the opportunity to dance.....do it.

I got some yoga studying this afternoon during a pedicure while Jake napped (can't go into a yoga weekend with old polish, no?) and have book club tonight. Experimenting with a chicken curry crock pot meal for the family, Nate has been home all week so its been a week of heavy cooking on this end. I can't believe how much food we go through when he is home. What on earth is going to happen when these people are all teenagers? Tomorrow is Sue's level 2 class in the morning, then cramming in a bunch of studying before a soccer party with the family. Oh cramming, its been so long since I've done you. College flashbacks here.