I have always loved to watch people bowl. My father and his sister were very good bowlers. However, I usually watched them bowl, with a little bit of envy, since time didn't permit me to do it.
Then September of 1960, I had a three year old child and had considered putting him in a nursery school program to learn to play with other children. There was four years between his older brother and him, and his sisters were older too. When I talked to the lady running the nursery school in our area, she proposed that because he had older siblings, he may find nursery school boring, and suggested that perhaps my taking a class at the YWCA could benefit us both - I could take a class and he would be in the nursery with the other children. Sounded like a good plan for me, as I had wanted to learn to play bridge and the Y was offering beginning bridge classes. It was while I was taking that class that another member of the group suggested that I might like bowling with their team and they had a very good nursery program that afternoon too. Wow, I thought - bridge and bowling, how much better could it be!
So the following week, I started bowling with a house league every Tuesday afternoon. I bowled with this league for several years. I seemed to be a natural at bowling and after a couple of years was invited to join a league where each team was sponsored by a local bowling alley and we would rotate weekly among those houses. I bowled with that league through the spring of 1980, when my husband and I were making plans to move to California. My husband and I bowled on a couples' league also, which was a lot of fun. It was sponsored by the Detroit Zoo and had originally started as a league of zoo employees, but over the years had taken in other friends and relatives of the bowlers, not connected with the zoo. Again, we bowled with this league for several years, until making preparations for our move.
After moving to the San Diego area in California and getting settled in, my husband joined the Elks lodge and I became a member of the Women's Auxiliary and they had a bowling league, so once again I was able to enjoy the sport and make many new friends in the process. Later, after moving to Whittier for my husband's work, I bowled with the Old Newcomers group for a couple of years.
Do to some bad business decisions we had made, it became necessary for me to work, which is when I became the archivist for the Whittier museum, which meant having to give up the bowling. It wasn't a hard trade, as I really enjoyed my work.
In 2003, we moved to our present location and I was having difficulty with my legs and had begun to use a cane regularly. The idea of bowling was not even in my thinking. At this time my husband was going through the serious illness that took his life the following June. The many changes that had taken place in those few months made bowling not even a thought.
I became active doing other things and through friends that I made, I was able to get back to playing bridge again. In the past two and a half years I lost some of the weight I had been carrying and through the grace of God, my legs were responding and I found I did not need the cane any longer. Then a year ago a friend mentioned that they were going to need a new member to their bowling team. I wondered if I could do it. The friend was very patient with me and we went to practice a couple of times. Now mind you, I had not held a bowling ball in nearly twenty years and those first few games were nothing to write home about. I asked my friend to give me another week to practice a little more and I would either be ready to bowl or let her off the hook! WELL - the rest of the story is history! I began bowling with the team when it resumed in August of last year and even though I had to go with a lighter ball, and don't have the speed on my approach that I used to - I WAS BOWLING AGAIN!!!
And I am a member of the team and league again this year and am so grateful for the ability, such as it is to be able to do it. I will never carry the large average I once did, or throw the heavier ball, but that isn't important - I am bowling again and loving every minute of it. And through this league have again, made some wonderful new friends. I don't know how many years I will be able to do this, but I am going to relish every Tuesday morning that I can, hopefully for years to come.
I do play bridge occasionally too - and did I mention - many of our bowling group usually go to lunch after we finish - can life get any better??? Perhaps, but for now - it is great! Hugs and love to all.
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