Bowling

Bob went bowling this week. He was very afraid and didn’t want to go. He told me to leave him at home, he wasn’t feeling well, the whole nine yards. I kept telling him he would be fine once we got there and if he didn’t feel like bowling he could just watch.

Well we got to the bowling alley and he sat and watched the kids for a while. I asked him if he wanted to bowl and he told me he had better not. I went and got a couple of bowling balls and let him try the weight out on them. The first three were too heavy, but the last one was just right. I let him throw one ball when it came Sarah’s turn to bowl. And he did it! He knocked down seven pins. He was so surprised and happy. All the kids clapped and cheered for him.

I asked for a lane and Bob and I bowled a game together. I walked him to the line and he would throw the ball while I stood next to him. After he threw the ball I would grab him and steady him on his feet. He bowled an eighty-eight. And now he has been bitten by the bug and wants to go again. Sarah’s home school group meets once a month for bowling so we will meet up with them and we are going to try and throw in maybe some bowling times on the week ends.

After we finished bowling I took him to Steak and Shake for lunch. He got a large chocolate milk shake. That is his favorite and we sat until he slurped down the last drop. He told me when we left the restaurant that it had been a great day. He didn’t know that it was going to get better.

We pulled up to the house and the mail was there. Bob used to be a big mail person. He loved getting the mail and would look for the mail man all the time. He was always taking important letters back to his room because his son has the same first name. Rob and I were always fighting with companies telling us they had sent something and we would tell them we had not received it. Finally one day we realized what was happening and when we went back to his room there were a stack of letters on his dresser of things he didn’t know what they were, but knew they were important. Opps!

I got the mail and saw that there was a card for Bob. In the past he would have gotten all excited about a card, but now he doesn’t know if it is really for him or not, so he waits until you open and read it to him and then gets excited. I took him back to him room and opened the card. It was from the people from his high school reunion. They had all signed a card letting him know how much they had missed him. I read the names off to him one by one and he thought hard to remember who they were.

He put the card beside his chair on the bed and that is where it stayed for the rest of the day. It might have even been there when he went to bed last night. We never moved it. I am even thinking about putting it in a frame for him and hanging it in his room. I will have to think about it. Sometimes things hanging on the wall make him nervous. He thinks they are moving. This may be a condition from his cataracts. We won’t know until after his right eye is taken care of on September 23.

When you call and talk to him this week end be sure to ask him about bowling and praise him for trying it. Encourage him to keep it up.