Golf.. Good for the Soul!

It is amazing how a game of hitting a little ball around a grassy field on a gorgeous Friday afternoon can change one's perspective on things.  I always HATED golf!!  Hubs would watch it occasionally (the major championships) on television and I would spend the entire time sighing dramatically - Oscar worthy sighs! -  and looking for other things to do..  He would go to play and I would pout acting like he was leaving me for another woman!


My Golf Story..

I was diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis about 5 years ago.  My Rheumatologist (an absolutely beautiful Gramma-ish kinda woman) and I were working on an activity program that would strengthen my joints.  With RA, the more you can move the better you feel.  Well, she asked me in all sincerity, "do you golf"?  I looked at her as though she just spoke to me in Russian....  "are you kidding me??"  She suggested that I learn the game.  "The game of golf "gently" uses pretty much every joint in the body" - so she says.  ...she's in on this golf conspiracy, too!  So, with that, the hubs and I went to the driving range.  I wouldn't say I went "kicking and screaming" because I asked him to take me - but my attitude was more like "let's get this over with".  We hit a few balls, and it was fun, but I still carried my prejudices.  Later that afternoon we stopped into the pro-shop.  I looked at all the golf clubs, the paraphernalia, the bells and whistles, and all the cute golf outfits, the purses, the shoes..  We came upon a stack of business card of a local PGA/LPGA golf pro ( I didn't give THEM a second look).  Without telling me, hubs took a card and signed me up for lessons with Mary as part of my Mother's Day gift that year!  It was all down hill from there!  I got hooked!  Line, rod and sinker - I was HOOKED!  Mary introduced me to an experience that I never imagined would become so important to both me and my husband!  We both ended up taking lessons and growing into a friendship with Mary that has deepened and blossomed over the years.  A truly special friendship! 


For me and my husband, golf has become not just a sport, but a reason to laugh, to be together, to enjoy each other..  We have spend many a "date" on the golf course, gone on several golf vacations together, and grown together as a couple in some of the most beautiful places in the US.  We encourage, compete, hug, and act like a couple of kids going out on their first date when we're on the golf course!!  Even planning a "golf date" is fun! 

Move forward to yesterday!  We golfed at my Son's College football season "kick-off" - An event to raise money for the team and to kick off this year's football season!  What a terrific event it was!!  Over 160 golfers!  And, here is the GREAT news, I won not one, but TWO awards!!  Can you imagine???  TWO awards!!  I won "Women's closest to the pin" and "Women's long drive"!!  Me??   Yes - ME!!    That was just what the Dr ordered to get me out of the funk I was in last week.

For today I need to get a few things done, go out for dinner, then on to the second part of my sleep test tonight.  I won't say it is a bad or a good thing - although I'm not looking forward to the C-CRAP stuff I'll have to wear, but I'm looking at this as an avenue to begin my weight loss journey.  The kick in the derriere that I need to do something - anything - to get the weight off and to live a more healthier life.  Whether that "do something" is weight loss surgery, or dieting, or whatever it takes, it will be my "push off the ledge" that I so desperately need. 

Have a GREAT day!!

..Until next time!