Bowling

Last weekend I went bowling with some folks. Don't know quite how I got roped into it. Haven't been bowling in years, and it showed. Oh, it showed.

There was a time when I was much younger when I was... well, I was never a good bowler, but at one time I was, shall we say, acceptably mediocre. I usually gave signs of having some idea what I was up to, I bowled 120-something on average, on a good day I might break 150.

But that was 30 years ago. Now it's all fled away. This weekend I couldn't keep the ball out of the gutter to save my life. Oh, I still displayed something of the stance and release of one who once knew how to bowl, step, step, step, arm back, swing forward, send her rolling. But results were uniformly dismal, with the ball curling strongly toward the left, and often into the gutter, no matter how I tried to adjust, compensate, or despair.

Bowling and me. Once upon a time...