Happy Father's Day For Me

So today is Father's Day and although it is golf Sunday and not my day to see Johnnie, the fact that I already got to see him and have some quality time with him yesterday was enough of a  Father's Day present for me. In the meantime all I wanted to do was have the usual Sunday golf morning and today tee off is at Roosevelt Golf Course. It was yet another day to work on my focus as I realize more and more that the reason I fade is that I start to get tired and/or lose my focus. And that is the time to simply re-focus. It is one of the most important skills I need to learn in order to manifest the outcomes that I want. I reminded myself that it isn't at all about visualizing how my shots are going to go although that too is important. It's about feeling nice and relaxed and feeling good about the shot the moment I make the shot. While blocking out all the internal crap about how many different ways I can screw up the shot. The first tee at Roosevelt always dictates how the day is going to go. Most of the time. This time I hit a nice drive but shanked it left towards the fence. It took 3 shots and I was still well past the hole and past the green. A miracle long putt gave me a bogey on this hole. Not bad after 2 straight not-so-good fairway shots. And that, in fact, dictated how the game would go. I had some amazing shots from the tee. None better than the blast on Hole 8 that went straight and got to the flag on the dogleg right. It was about as perfect a first shot as someone could do. Similar tee shots on Hole 2, Hole 4, and Hole 5 underscored how well I hit the ball off the tee. If only I could have matched that on the fairway. Like Hole 1, I hit the 2nd ball back into the trees on Hole 2. Whiffed the 2nd shot on the fairway on Hole 4, Hit the trees again on Hole 5. Clearly, a program was in play here. The one about not getting 2 good shots in a row. I finally did get a par on Hole 7 though. And all in all it wasn't like I played badly. In fact, I had bogeys on Hole 4,7, and 8 to go with that par. Anyway it was a pretty nice day and I couldn't complain about spending my Father's Day out on the golf course.

After the game I knew it would take a while to get home. It always does coming from Roosevelt. Usually I would pick something up from IN-N-Out on Highland and Sunset. I didn't feel like dealing with a line today. And so I decided to stop at the Sidewalk Grill, that Mediterranean cafe on Vermont that I used to have lunch at way back in the day when I worked at the MOB the first year I worked at QueensCare. That was in 2013. It seems so long ago. I hadn't eaten here in such a long time... and certainly not during the pandemic. I ordered grilled salmon and rice and lentil soup just like I would at Crimson on any other Sunday. They had bigger salmon pieces here. And the lentil was brown, not yellow. I think I like Sidewalk Grill better in fact. But I had a similar lunch like I would if I got it from Crimson.  And so for the rest of the afternoon, I watched the Dodgers win again, I watched the Clippers lose Game 1 again in the Western Conference finals, bemoaning the fact that they were there instead of the Lakers. And later on I would see the Atlanta Hawks punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals by upsetting Philadelphia. Boy, all the favorites have already gotten knocked out. Strange season. I didn't want to do much the rest of the day. I did look at a whole bunch of past entries in my journal. Hey it is Father's Day. I could look at all things about being Johnnie's dad from years past. Oh, and I did watch the movie Fatherhood which was about a widowed single dad played by Kevin Hart of all people. Being a dad is simply one of the biggest privileges a guy can ever have. I look at Johnnie's baby pictures from back in the day and it's hard to believe how much he has grown up to now. And he has a lot more growing up to do. And I can't help but think of all these things that have happened in the past 6 1/2 years of his life there have been lots of ups and downs to be sure. Heck I got divorced didn't I? But having the privilege of being Johnnie's dad? That's the best deal I've ever gotten. I may not always get it right. But I will always love my little Bug no matter what and that will carry me through anything. And something I will forever be grateful for. Happy Father's Day to ME!!!