A New Baby and a New Beginning of the Season Here with Eric

Written on 4-24-22.

        Emily and Carter had their first baby yesterday!  Weston Robert Gerber was welcomed into the world at around 12:10.  I had just sent a text asking what was going on at 12:15, so I felt something was happening.  Anyway, they are all healthy and happy, and they should be able to bring him home later today.  Welcome, Weston!

I have a cold or something (allergies?), so I didn’t go to church today.  Eric had something similar last week.  I didn’t want to spread it (if it’s a cold), and I am glad I stayed home.  I feel listless, and I am betting it also has something to do with my work week.  I went from Newcomb to my Albuquerque schools, and I travelled for three days.  The good thing about that is I am now finished with my April visits.  Phew!  

We got to eat dinner with the kids (Casey included) at the Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo, though, and I also got to see where all three of them work.  First, I went to Dani’s school, Cleveland Middle School, and then I drove out to James’s Fidelity building south of the airport.  I also got to see Casey’s new State Farm building location (complete with a homeless guy) the night we ate out on the way back to Casey’s house.  I got some good pictures of James’s work building, and he is going to begin going in for work a couple of times a week.

Belinda even made the trip, because she didn’t want to be left out, and she is done working for this school year.  She drove over on Thursday by herself and surprised the kids at dinner, and then she spent the night with me in the hotel.  It was so grand to have our little family together!  Even if it was just for one dinner.

On to golf…

Eric and I played at Civitan last Friday, and it was fun.  It was great to get out and play again, and it was the first time Eric and I played together this season.

It was...

competitive as always, and who won depended on who you are and what your point of view was.  Eric would say he won, and I would say I did.  Here’s what happened…

We played a points game for the first 18 holes, and then we modified it for the second 18.  On the first 18, it was one point for hitting the G.I.R., one point for a par, and one more for winning the hole.

Eric had a rough start with some terrible misses that led to some high scores.  His first nine was his worst nine.  I put down a score of 42 for him, but it wasn’t a legal score due to some O.B. shots.  He managed to get six points, though.  I had only pars and bogeys, and I ended up 6 over with a 33.  He did better (how could he not?) on the “back” nine.  He shot a 33 to my 34, and he got 11 points that time.  I managed eight, so I won the first nine barely by one point.

On the next 18, he played the first seven holes to +2 before he had to leave to go meet Amanda.  He was winning 19 to 14 at that point.  On this 18, I recommended that hitting the greens were worth three points to emphasize hitting them, so he put it to me by hitting four out of seven greens for big points.  I managed to hit three greens and earned 14 points.  And that was it, so who won?

If you are Eric, the first nine was just a warm-up, so that didn’t count.  Then you won the second nine by three points and one stroke, and continued to kick your opponent’s butt for the third nine before you had to leave.  You won everything.

If you are Patrick, you beat Eric on the first 18 holes by one point, and you beat your opponent's stroke play score by eight, and that’s being generous, because he didn’t even have a legal score.  After Eric left, you knew that would be considered a forfeit, and you also know that if he had stayed, you would have caught him on the last twelve holes anyway.  You won everything.

That’s what I meant when I said it depends on your point of view and who you are.

In all seriousness, we had a lot of fun on a beautiful day, and we also had a yummy lunch together at Schlotsky’s after the first 18 holes.  It was a swell way to start the season by warming up the iron and short games before taking on a “real” course.

I was proud of my consistency.  I shot 33, 34, 33, and 33.

After Eric left, I played with three Mormon friends, two of whom I know.  Carl (last name) and Irvin (last name).  Carl is Kyle’s father, and Kyle was in my class and my first tee classes, too.  Irvin was in my Master’s cohort, and he is one of the assistant principals at (school name).  They weren’t super serious about golf, and I found myself teeing off first on all the holes after the first two holes, settling into great contact and consistent putting.  I only had two bogeys in the last seven holes, and the rest were pars.  I definitely would have caught Eric (wink, wink).

Until next time…