By the end of the month it will be summer vacation time for school children. I remember how much I looked forward to being off from school for three months. There was a lot of time to fill up with activities. Some were structured like organized baseball. Others were not such as “sandlot” baseball games. Pickup games at the ball fields which were easily reached on a bike filled many afternoons. As I grew older, unfortunately, that free time diminished due to working at a job, or for a few summers, umpiring Little League games.

When my daughter played on the high school golf team I tried a new sport, the game of golf. We would travel to a small course south of Muscatine and chase the ball around. My time on the golf course was sporadic and it seemed I made just enough good shots to keep coming back. For a few years I was able to get out to the golf course in the Lynnville-Sully area on a regular basis and my golf game improved immensely. After our move from Monroe to Pleasant Hill eight years ago it has probably been more than five years since I have swung a golf club. The clubs and bag have sat in the same place in the garage for all the time we have lived here.