There are a couple of Christmas eve traditions that have become pretty much written in stone.
One is a "girls luncheon" that Beth's best friend growing up (Lori McCroan) organizes every year. There are usually 10-15 of them that get together at a local restaurant for lunch. I'm sure there is a lot of laughter and enlightening conversation at these annual gatherings. Not everyone makes it every year and sadly one of the regular attendees passed away this past year but it's now evolved to where grown daughters are often in attendance. I don't think there have been any great granddaughter's attend yet but it's not too far off even if they don't want to recognize that fact.
I understand that next years luncheon will be somewhat of a milestone, the 30th consecutive year of this extravaganza! Congratulations to Lori for organizing and keeping this going through the years.
Another tradition with a few less years history but something that is becoming an annual event is the boys golf outing which I've named the "Hack City Open". It isn't pretty but it is a bunch of fun.
The players are Ben, my brother in law and friend since elementary school Drew, and his son Kyle who is Ben's age and me. Occasionally Drew's older son Scott will join us but this year he was on a fishing/diving trip and missed participating in the destruction.
Although I grew up playing golf and at one point many, many moons ago I was fairly decent. Now I play once or twice a year. It's too expensive and takes too long for me to stay focused. Plus, I don't own a set of clubs anymore. The set I had went the way of the refrigerator, couch, and house when we downsized. In case you were wondering, no, we still don't miss any of that "stuff"!
So as we made our way around the golf course I noticed that Ben and I were locked in a pretty tight battle. This was quite unusual because he usually pounds me pretty good. I think it was a combination of him playing down to my level and me playing a little better than expected.
With three holes to play I had a two shot lead. I was beginning to feel confident that I was going to whip him. I was so confident that I started talking a little trash to him figuring I could get in his head and pull away for a decisive victory I could hold over him for a year.
I guess I made him mad. He got a shot back on 16 and another one on 17. As we stepped to the 18th tee tied tension filled the air. It was Jack vs Arnie, Tiger vs Phil, Sunday at Augusta and the Ryder Cup all rolled into one.
He was in the fairway off the tee while I was a little to the right (my usual place on the golf course and in politics) near a lake but dry and with a clear path to the green.
Then it happened. As I was walking to my ball with my head down and in deep concentration I looked up and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A 7-8 foot gator right in front of me! While he was still a few poodles away from being full grown he was a decent size and there was a little bit of a startle factor that came into play. He seemed interested in holding his place in the sunshine on an unusually hot Christmas Eve. Ben told me I had to "play it as it lies" which was about twenty feet from his teeth.
I summoned all three of them to keep an eye on him while I hit my shot. I gave clear instructions that they were to alert me if he decided to come in for a closer look.
I guess I rushed my shot for some strange reason and ended up short of the green. This resulted in a double bogey 6 on the hole and I lost to Ben by one shot. He shot 90 which was a little high for him while I'll gladly take my 91 and live with it until next year.
It was a great afternoon of fun and losing to Ben isn't a bad thing.
Bleeding the Orange and Blue of the University of Florida I've said it many times over the years......"dang Gators" (cleaned up from the in my head version of what is usually said)! I think it applies in this situation.
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| Gator Bait! |
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| Lifelong friend, college roommate, brother in law and fellow hacker Drew Eason |
