The worst part about this whole thing is the waiting. All the while we are supposed to be “regulating stress levels” which is so easy in this world of unknown. Luckily I am well trained in the hurry up and wait world. I did after all survive the military, and currently work for the government, so there is a ton of hurry and wait. In addition to the stress of the situation itself, I’m a workaholic, so any time away is too much time away. As such, I have been assessing the current situation and have established certain fillers to assist in the need to relax.
Recently I have been bringing my daughter golfing with me and she loves it! To me golfing is relaxing. I enjoy the outdoors and the quiet, and despite the fact that a 3 year old greatly reduces the quiet, it is still fairly relaxing. We didn’t plan on having all this spare time so I didn’t bring my clubs, but we did go and get her a set of her own to discover the game. Her adorable baby clubs have been eating at me, looking at me with a longing to go touch grass and ball for the first time. Since we had some time to spare, I figured this would be the best time to bust them out.
The world was no match for the cuteness that ensued, but there was one problem. This little girl that constantly asks for her turn, said “Not today mom, I’m just going to sit and relax.” Really? You get to sit and relax? When is my sit and relax time? Although, I can’t complain much when she sat fairly quietly in the cart while I played, only getting out to run behind the cart or chase after the occasional bird. Seriously though, after all those golf games where she constantly wanted to play and didn’t have the proper clubs, and now when she finally does it’s “Not today mom.” She is so darn cute that I can’t help but just smile and shake my head.
Even though she didn’t want to play herself, apparently acting as my caddy was not too stressful to distract from her relaxation. We were on the 5th hole and I looked at my watch. I told her that we had 128 yards to go, with a slight uphill. I asked what club I should use, 7 or 8 iron. At first I didn’t think that she was paying attention because there was a robin nearby that she was examining. Right before I grabbed the 8, I heard a very thoughtful, “Uuuum, I think the 7.” I looked and she was still examining the life of the far off bird, as if she was a seasoned pro and asking her for such advice was an everyday thing. How could I not use the 7 after that? Sure enough, perfect shot on the green approx 10 feet from the pin. I thanked my wise advisor and promptly received a “you’re welcome!”
This wasn’t a one off thing, as a couple of holes later I asked her again. We had approx 120 to go with water in the middle. This time she was busy examining the water hazards, looking for any crocodiles that may be lurking in the corners. “What do you think? 7 or 8?” She looked up from the water and then shifted her gaze from the pin, to me and back to the pin. “8 mum mum,” and then back to the water. That crazy little girl. 8 it was and despite being a little of target, I got the hill right and the ball rolled nicely on to the green. There were benefits to her just “relaxing” that round.
At the end of our 9 hole round, she got very excited to see two other little girls on the practice green. Relax time was over. We couldn’t leave until she showed her new friends her putting skills, especially with her new pink clubs. It was hilarious to see the complete change once she had peers there to impress. Defintely the showmanship part of her busted out.
Ultimately it was a relaxing date night with my little golfer.
Adventures of Offspring 