Last Tuesday, Mer and I headed up to Macedonia to go to Chick-fil-A. Normally, we do not need much of an excuse to eat at Chick-fil-A because we like the food, but this was also a fundraiser for a CVCA family that has medical needs. So, we like to eat and we wanted to be supportive, so we went up.

It was cool – not only was the food good (as it always is), but the place was also full of CVCA folks. We ran into and sat with Dubbs and another CVCA teacher, Liz. We saw multiple CVCA students and other teachers, and we had a good time catching up with Dubbs and Liz (Liz has a very dry sense of humor, so she fits in quite well).

Last Thursday, Mer had parent-teacher conferences, which I do not have to go to. For several years, my officemate, Phil, has been wanting me to go golfing with him, and I always put it off because of the double-house situation we had for three years. Well, we finally sold the other house last summer, so I agreed to go golfing for the first time in about 17 years. I did ask that it be a par-3 pitch-and-putt, though, which Phil agreed to. Somewhere along the way, CVCA’s president, RT, found out we were going and “wanted in” on things, so we had three of us going.

I still had Ceili Club on Thursday, so Phil went to drive a bucket of balls at a nearby driving range, and then he picked me up at about 4:30. We met RT at the golf course, which was a par-3 called Leisure Time. RT insisted on paying for my round of golf (we decided on 9 holes), and I told him that if he beat me, I would buy him an iced tea. RT is a pretty good golfer, so there was no doubt there. Phil lent me a bag of clubs, some tees, and some balls, so we were good to go.

Leisure Time has a pretty little course. It has a surprising amount of walking between holes for a small course, but it was a pretty day, and warm (about 80), and we literally had the entire course to ourselves for the entire evening. I golfed about as I expected – poorly, but not terribye. It was good enough that I had a good time. Phil and RT made for great company, and RT was pulling for everyone on pretty much every shot. I was the only one to find a water trap, which was remarkable since I was deliberately aiming away from it.

I started well, shooting 8 on the first two holes (2 over par). I thought that I would do okay, but then hit some trouble, especially on 4, 5, and 6, all of which I “shot” the maximum 6 strokes. Ooops. I did get one par, which was pretty cool. Phil got the only birdie of the day, on hole 6 (where I shot a 6). Overall, I think I shot a 43-45, which Phil told me I should let people know about without telling them it was a par-3 course.

On the last hole, Phil told me he wanted to see me belt the ball (I was using a hesitant swing), so I tried it and whacked out a chunk of turf, while sending the ball about 50 yards. Not too impressive. RT made the shot of the day on 9 – he was under a fir tree and could not get a clean swing on the ball, but still managed to whack it onto the green to save a par. RT shot all 3s and 4s for the day – as I said, a pretty good golfer.

I do not think I am about to rush out and get a set of clubs, but I did have a good time and can see myself enjoying the fellowship 2-3 times a year. Oh – and although I lost two balls on the day, I found one, so I only cost Phil one ball.