Sunday Golf

It feels like there is yet another hold on fall as it turned out to be another summery day today. And believe me I am absolutely not complaining. We were at Penmar this morning and though it was just Scott and I, I looked forward to having a good game and yet another opportunity to deprogram my golf bad habits. While having breakfast this morning I just had it in my mind that i was simply going to enjoy today no matter how I did out on the course. I keep telling myself the formula. Relax, keep my heart rate down and not to get myself rushed. Block out the anxiety. It's just play. And I tell myself that week after week after week. That I still haven't gotten that down is testament to how dug in my existing patterns are. And how much I need to do in order to dig them up and let them go. Actually today, somehow I was able to overcome just enough to have a decent game actually. Starting the first hole with a par is always a good thing, even if it took me 3 shots to get to the green. The key obviously is to get close to the hole on that 3rd shot. Which I did and so the par putt was easy. I reminded myself that I started last week at Harbor with a par too. And that hole was considerably harder than this one. The key is to maintain the consistency. Just hit the ball straight and not to worry so much about the distance. In the meantime I settled into some kind of groove. I know this because I felt myself being present with the moment. Noticing the monarch butterfly flying around on the short Hole 3, immediately thinking about what Johnnie would have to say about seeing one. I felt the warmth of the sun on my face all day, which turned into some sweat by Hole 6. It was cool how Scott and I were trying to encourage each other all game. I mean really, there is absolutely NO reason we couldn't shoot bogey golf on this course. And Scott actually hit 4 bogeys in a row until he ran into some trouble on Hole 5. I was wildly inconsistent. But at least I had 2 pars out of the first 4 holes. And then I hit 2 straight 6s on Hole 6 and 7. And then got a par again on Hole 8. I'd say 3 pars would be minimum competency on this course LOL LOL. But 3 pars is still 3 pars and despite being inconsistent, I couldn't really say I played all that badly either. In the end I felt good about my game and I felt great that I got out to play on such a nice day. And THEN I brought home the usual salmon kabob from Crimson for lunch too. All in all more than just a pretty good morning. I didn't feel like doing anything the rest of the day. And usually I wouldn't even think of Johnnie and Lisa today but I was thinking they were probably doing something with Silvia and I made myself available mentally should Lisa call and present an opportunity to hang out with them. Turned out she never did which was ok too.If yesterday was all about R&R then I would say that today was more of the same after golf. AFter all I have all next week off, all 3 days before Thanksgiving anyway. And even though I still have responsibilities for work... like doing my team payroll and submitting COVID vaccination reports <HRSA> no way was I intending to get them done today. Not on the weekend where I have the week off. Instead I continued to be as in the moment as I could. I noticed the leaves falling on my block, how warm it remained until late and even the evening chill did not necessitate the need to change from shorts. I did grocery shopping too... this time the Trader Joe's run. And I ate Asian beef and onion over rice, the packaged meal from the Japanese market. AND to cap my Sunday evening, to finish my weekend I turned again to the ongoing travails and adventures of Raymond Reddington and Liz Keen in the Blacklist. I remember around the time I'm watching late, I would usually watch Person of Interest. I guess I'm bound to watch something late at night. Still I am looking forward to next week. Thanksgiving week. And I still have to lock in all kinds of stuff I planned to do... Disneyland. Legoland. San Diego. A hotel perhaps?