Tough Times...Priceless Pictures

We've all been touched in one way or another by this recession/depression, and each of us has our own individual tale of woe in that regard.  Some have lost everything they've worked for their entire life, others have had to cut back in many areas, but one positive that can be taken from these times, is a renewed appreciation for what is ultimately most important in life. 

Realizing that the summer has almost past, without hearing enough laughter, or  maybe more importantly, not having my family hear enough of  mine, I took the occasion of an unexpected, and brief window of time between stress events; to interrupt my thirteen-year old son's summer sleep-in-late scenario, and drag him along with me to a couple of business stops, and to visit his older brother at his new job. That led to getting a sandwich at one golf course, conversation about golf, and the decision to stop at our home course on the way back, to hit a few range balls. Once there, however, a look at open fairways and tee boxes, led to a "what the heck" decision to elevate our plans from hitting a few range balls, to splurging on a twilight nine hole rate for the two of us, with the added "icing on the cake" of cart rental to boot...so with no warm-ups, and an urgency to capture the open first tee box, we dawned our Team Bogey head ware, boarded the "green technology golf craft", and embarked on a father-son venture long overdue...      -

The two hours that followed consisted of teen-age cart driving, golf instruction from Dad, (as much as mutually tolerable), shared frustrations and trading of verbal jabs associated with miss-hit balls; and hand slapping, high-five, celebrating, (in the spirit of Team Bogey), upon witnessing the wide-eyed excitement generated from a hoped-for, yet unexpected, perfect or near-perfect shot.  

Those two hours, and the laughter, conversation, and bonding that followed, provided much needed respite from burdensome times, the emotional and physical value of which cannot be fully measured. The priceless picture of a young man's smiling face and exuberant sprint down a fairway toward the landing spot of a nicely struck golf ball, is one that will be engrained in my memory as long as father time allows...    

I'm realizing now, as well, that a good portion of my son's youthful exuberance was due to him seeing his "once silly, but lately too somber old man", showing some signs of coming back to life.  I will do my best in these tough times, to create more opportunities for some of these priceless pictures.