UNITED STATES—I will admit that I am a bit hesitant to try new things at times. Not because I don’t want to do them, but simply because I don’t want to fall flat on my face or embarrass myself. Recently, one of my siblings asked if I wanted to go bowling. Bowling, not really my cup of tea, and I think I may have done it only once in my entire time on this Earth.
With that said, I said, “To hell with it, why not.” Went bowling and I must admit I had the time of my life. I haven’t laughed that hard in such a long time. It was just hilarious seeing family and friends deliver gutter balls, and then I turned around and did the same thing, so it was a bit of karma that was being tossed back in my direction.
To be honest, I was pretty good at bowling. Did I win the 2 games that we played over a period of let’s say almost 3 hours? No. I was not victorious, but I landed in second place. So let’s be honest, I rather get second place versus last place. Also people don’t realize there is a bit of skill that comes with bowling. It is not as simple as picking up that heavy ball and just letting it go.
For me, I had a bit of technique that involved having a bit of speed in movement and then rolling that ball with force to ensure I knocked down all 10 pins. Sometimes I had success, other times the success was not on my side. I did get a few spares and there were situations where I simply told myself, “What the hell was that?” I even helped my precocious niece, who while only 5 years old, is always trying to do everything on her own. That includes rolling a heavy bowling ball down the lane to knock down her pins. Sometimes she wanted help, sometimes she didn’t. Those are kids for you people.
At the same time, while bonding with family, I was able to bond with complete strangers as we joked about bowling balls falling into the gutter, someone sending the ball in the other direction and just makes jokes and laughing in the process. I have never really considered bowling a sport, but the more I think about it, it actually is a sport that people really and I mean REALLY get into.
The competition you sometimes endure when people bowl, make you question if you want to bet any money on a single game. You might be eating those words especially if you’re someone like me who likes to trash talk a bit. I learned a valuable lesson in the past week, don’t be afraid to try new things, you might be surprised what you learn about yourself, but at the same time you make memories. Memories that last a lifetime.
Written By Jason Jones
