Thursday, May 11, 2006

I remember hitting a woman in the head with a golf ball...

We lived in the country beside the little church my Dad pastored. One of Abe's most passionate hobbies was golfing, and one spring Dad turned our huge backyard into a pitch and putt golf course. He filled gopher holes along the fairways, dug nine holes and put a tin can in each one to catch the golf balls. He mowed the grass nice and close along the greens, and made a flag we could move from hole to hole so we could see where to aim. It was awesome!! My sister and I each had our own putter and a driver, and we'd golf all afternoon on a Saturday. I even got a hole-in-one on the longest hole one day! This was no easy feat...I'm not talking Miniature Golf here, but a true Par 3 Pitch 'n Putt. Like I said, it was a huge back yard.

One day, I was at the back of the yard, lining up for a good long shot towards the hole nearest the church. I hollered "Fore!!!" and gave the ball a mighty whack...just as a woman walked out of the side door of the church. My ball headed straight for her, hitting her in the temple; she crumpled like a limp towel to the ground. It happened so fast, there was nothing I could have done. I felt so guilty!! Apparently it took her a long time to recover from that injury. My line drive caused her head-aches for years afterwards. Oops.

Now that I think of it, I haven't golfed much since.

10 comments:

Spoke said...

Yes, slicing the bleeding ball got me every time. Dad would do his nut and tell me I wasn't trying!Took the fun out of the game it did.
One day on a putt-putt course at the PNE, some drunkish twit drilled a ball and hit me in the cheek. I actually told him not to worry about it ( I was 7). I couldn't imagine how I would feel if I hit a little kid on a putt-putt course.

Funkyewe said...

Ouch! Good thing I don't golf either...

Andrea

Anonymous said...

you are a kindred spirit.
we need to converse about blessing the food sometime. ( -:

Anonymous said...

I hate it when that happens...

About the homeschooling thing- I know it is a hot topic esp. in this town for some reason. I know I won't offend you Paula (or at least I hope I don't), but there are other people I am not so sure about and I really don't want to offend. And maybe I am too cautious to post what I REALLY think on these blogs.

So here's what I really think:

Personally, I don't understand why anyone homeschools in this town. We have great schools and great teachers, who are mostly christians. Why wouldn't parents entrust their children to these schools? There are social benefits(necessary for kids as they develop and learn to interact with peers in different settings), as well as healthy societal supports that as a community, we shouldn't throw out. It seems to me also, that the homeschoolers in this town actually form their own "alternate school" for events, which to me is so ironic. Why don't you just send your kids to an established school where they can do music, theater, and other special events with parental involvement? The ways in which the 2 schools in town currently lack, could be very much helped by parents that really care and want to invest time into their kids education.

In my opinion, homeschooling is great if you live as a missionary in a very different culture or as a special needs family. But, with normal circumstances like ours in this town, I just don't get it.

Is it control? Is it fear? Is it laziness? Is it just to be "different"? Maybe you can help me here.

Another thought: Myron has yet to see any homeschooler's transcripts for college in which they haven't gotten straight A's. And many of these homeschoolers that he has seen transcripts for are not in the highest percentage of students in college GPAs. What does that say about homeschooling? (It's not that grades are everything, but the statistics are interesting).

I am not against homeschoolers or homeschooling- don't get me wrong. I just don't get it for this area and for this demographic. Maybe you can educate me with your reasons exactly. I think I'm a little biased for sure, but I try to be open to other peoples views. I know so many people who homeschool, so it is an interesting topic and one that I generally try to avoid b/c I feel very strongly about it.

When I hear testamonies about why so-and-so does homeschooling, it often comes down to "it really works for us". Well, what would happen as a society if everyone started homeschooling? It seems very inefficient to me.

I am also writing this from a backround in public school in Cailfornia. I went K-4at a public school, then 6-8 at a private Christian school, then back to public school for high school. I am happy for my colorful education history. I had so many friends of all kinds- I found that it challenged me as a christian to be around people of different views and backrounds. I don't want to talk about myself so much, but with that in mind, I think about my own kids... I want them to expand their perspectives as much as possible. We already live in such an insular community as it is. The more interaction and stimulus they get from other people the better. Of course, as parents we must sift thru these experiences and help our children see the truth and the Christ-like way of interacting with these people/issues/things.

I hope I am not rambling on too much- and I'm sure you will have lots of response. I welcome your thoughts, and again, I hope I haven't offended in any way. Jodi

layne (herman) said...

and "they" say golf is a safe sport...

but i must say, i think it is cool that you Dad made a golf course!


when i was little my uncle did a line drive with a softball to my face once... but that was different because i could see it coming.

Anonymous said...

I apologize Paula, for making it into a Blue vs. Purple discussion. It's not, and you're right- I need to try to find out more, b/c maybe I don't understand the phenomenon and haven't looked into it enough. I will not throw tomatoes at you or any other juicy fruit... I love you and treasure your friendship, Jodi

Kirstie said...

Oh Man! I'm glad you didn't kill that lady... oh, I can just feel the mortification.

Amber said...

I've almost got hit by a golf ball on a few separate occasions.

I have no clue where the home-schooling topic came from... but as far as schooling goes (the type of school I started out on)... because of my mom's health problems and various complications that arose from all of that - I ended up attending 6 different schools from K-12... and my most painful school memories, came from the Christian school...the one I went to for only a year and a half out of those six. It was so over-run by religiosity. I won't get into details... this isn't intended to be a bash fest. And I'm not trying to paint Christian schools with the same brush... (and maybe I still have some resentment to work through...) but I don't even know why it bothers people when parents decide to home-school their kids. Why do you automatically point out negative suspicions "lazy, controlling, fear, just to be different."?

My mom got so much questioning and flack from home-schooling me... and people kept saying I was "missing out on so much" and "not expanding my social circle." I think it's parents God-given duties to train up their kids... not an institution (even if it is "Christian). Of course it's good to gain a sense of culture, and community outside the home as well... but that doesn't necesarily need to happen in a "traditional school". If anything homeschooling has taught me to think outside the box in so many ways. Not to be bound by curriculum. To keep teaching myself even when I'm not getting graded. An important skill in the workplace and especially in creative fields (which I currently find myself).

RC said...

yikes...i hit my sister w/ a baseball bat when i was five...but never had such luck w/ a golf ball.

--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Mary, the mother. Royal is writing a new script and Bill is composing new music- even using They that Sew... from my demo! Pretty cool...