Take a Mulligan

If you take a close look, you might see that my last post was a year ago. Why is that? When my bride, Martha, is on vacation during June and July, we set goals, make plans, and such. Then, she goes back to woking with the 8th graders, leaving this 6th grader to his own devices. Now, periodically, "Tech Support," aka. Martha, and I set a daily goal to work on our respective websites. Then, mysteriously, we are off to the golf course or a movie, and nothing happens here. Recently, both Martha and I have been exploring why that is. 

In golf, taking a mulligan means: "A mulligan is a second chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder. Its best-known meaning is in golf, whereby a player is informally allowed to replay a stroke, even though this is against the formal rules of golf. " To my way of thinking, it says I am going to "cheat" on this hole; not follow the rules. 

During our recent travels, I played golf several times in 7,792 miles. Martha drove the cart, took pictures, and kept my score. As always she put a smiley face underneath my score on a hole where I earned par. Such notes go in what she calls "Comments." At times, I'd hit a bad shot. If there's no one on my heels, I'll hit another shot to remind myself of what a good shot is. While I would want to play the first shot for score, sometimes Martha insisted I play that second ball; take the mulligan. 

Martha has known me 28-years. She knows that I typically say at the end of a bad shot: "That's not like me." Playing the second shot, the mulligan, is the action that reinforces what is "like me," the good golf shot. 

Even though I'm still for following the rules, in a designated practice, on vacation, give yourself a break; have a good time, and don't worry about posting the score. 

7,792 miles later, we are going back to the tee box, dropping a second ball, and going again. 

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