Last weekend, Hubby tried to teach everyone how to bowl with his fine form and precision-like throws. No one got the bend and release motion. Instead, balls crashed onto the alley with loud pops. I was sure that at any moment the bowling attendants would come throw us all out of the alley.
I felt like I'd bowled twenty games instead of simply watching four little girls and a husband bowl a mere two games. I wondered if my muscle-pain was due to pain-by-proxy. Empathy pains? The contortions they all made to get their heavy balls to roll down the alley and clobber bowling pins reminded me of pretzels making their way down an assembly line.
I wanted to bowl, too, but I discovered on my third throw that my neck wouldn't allow me the privilege of bowling with my grandkids. Fortunately for me, the girls loved taking turns when it was Grama's time to bowl. Corporately, I had pretty good scores. Yet even with all four girls bowling collectively for me, my score still didn't top my youngest 4-year-old granddaughter, Kinsey's score of 82. Yeah. Tiny little Kinsey would grab a 7 or 10-pound ball, lug it over to the alley, drop it on the floor, then give it a shove down the alley. Then she'd sit down and wait to see what happened. That ball would take an entire minute to reach the pins and topple 5 to 10 pins with one whack. It was hilarious. Of course the bumper helped her when balls ricocheted off the padding. But everyone used the same lane, so it was all even-stevens.
Gutter balls and splits abounded. Spares and strikes were sparce except for Grampa. Still, every pin that came down was highly celebrated with cheers and high-fives. Who needs trophies when we have one another to encourage and affirm our efforts?
It kinda reminds me of Hebrews 10:24 "...let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."
Bowling affords great opportunities to teach addition, cooperation, sharing, patience, perseverance, encouragement and the plain old joy of being with one another...don't ya think? selahV
