The LIV Tour

Recently, golf has been all over the sporting news.  Although the sport has gotten some more news than usual this year due to Tiger Woods return following a car accident, no story has been bigger than the start of the new LIV tour.  The PGA had dominated the golfing world over the past one hundred years, but throughout there had also been other tours.  Many golfers would play on the European tour or on other smaller venues as well.  None of those were in direct competition with the PGA and all coexisted rather nicely.  The LIV tour looked to shake things up, however, as a rival organization.  Normally, I would have thought that was a good idea as no company or professional group should dominate a sport, but after researching the origin of the LIV tour, I could never support it.  

I am not the only person that feels that way.  Even the 9/11 coalition came out against it since the financial backer of the tour is the Saudi Arabian government.  They had some harsh words for Phil Mickelson over the weekend as he is the biggest name currently on the tour.  He wasn't the only one who switched, however, as quite a few other golfers joined the new tour as well, even though they had to give up their membership in the American tour to do so.  I understand why the athletes did so as the LIV promised them large amounts of cash, but couldn't agree with their decision.  What I found humorous about the whole thing was that the majority of players who switched were ones that were extremely unlikeable or who had shady reputations.  In the end it may have helped the PGA tour for those players to leave.  Either way I will stay away from the LIV tour.  Hopefully soon, it will be old news.  

  

Moved In, Ready to Go, Extremely Nervous

 Doug took Meg into Chicago this morning.  She had the Pilot filled with all that she would need for her summer internship.  They arrived early and were allowed to move in right away.  Meg would be staying in a semi-private suite for the week until she moved into her studio apartment on Saturday.  The room was nice and came with two beds.  She had a suite mate and a shared bathroom.  The building was centrally located.  Meg would be able to walk to work, the train station and even to Target.  The only downside to the place was the lack of refrigeration.  Thankfully, her apartment next weekend would have a full kitchen.

Once Doug and Meg moved everything in to her room, they walked to Gino's East for dinner.  They shared a pizza and agreed that although they liked it, Giordano's was still their favorite.  After lunch they walked to Plante Moran.  It will take her about 25 minutes to get there.  She was glad that she wouldn't have to use public transportation and would get in her daily steps.  They also walked to the train station.  Meg said that was only a five minute walk and will be perfect for Nick next weekend when he comes up to visit.  

Meg called after Doug left.  She had gone out to find groceries.  She was frustrated with the peanut butter shortage, but thankful for her new place in Chicago.  She was extremely nervous about tomorrow, but knew that she would find success if she worked hard.  I was excited for her and couldn't wait to hear about her first day.

The Grudge Match

For the last few weeks Cameron and Cal have been texting back and forth about who would win when they played golf together.  Cameron was sure that he had the "clutch gene" and would pull out a victory in dramatic fashion.  Cal was positive that if he could beat Jayce, then he could definitely defeat Cameron.  Today was the day of the "grudge match" and in the end Cameron came out on top.  He was down by three with four holes to go and went par, par, birdie, par to beat Cal by two.  Both boys came home from Maxwelton today with a lot of golf stories to tell.  It was fun to listen to them talk.  I didn't care who won, I was just glad that they were able to play together.  In the end Cameron took the "golf belt", but I think the real winner on the day was Grandpa Cutes.  Both boys beat him in score, but spending the day on the course with them was the ultimate prize.  

A Wonderful Start to the Weekend

The weather was absolutely beautiful today which helped to make this an awesome start to the weekend.  This morning, we had Cameron's golf tournament at Black Squirrel.  It was the first one of the summer season and he was feeling very good about it.  He teed off at 8:18 a.m. and I arrived in time to walk the back nine with him.  He said that he was playing very well, but started off the round with an eight on the first hole.  I encouraged him to hang in there as he had parred ten and eleven and definitely had a chance to finish in the top three.  On thirteen Samuel and Avery joined Cameron's gallery and by the seventeenth hole we had added Matthew.  Cameron continued to play well.  He was three down to one of his opponents going into sixteen, but an errant drive from one and consistent playing from the other lead to Cameron beating him on the eighteenth hole by one.  I was impressed, but even more excited when I saw that he had shot an 84 and was tied for first.  They took the boys out to eighteen for a playoff hole and it was over before it even started as Cameron's opponent hit his drive out of bounds.  Cameron stayed calm and finished with a par to win by two strokes.  It was a lot of fun to watch.

By the time I arrived home, Cal had finished with work for the day.  He decided to walk down to pick up his car.  It was more expensive than we thought it would be, but it did sound a lot better.  Meg had spent her afternoon packing for Chicago.  She got a lot done while I was gone.  Cameron hung out at Samuel's for the afternoon playing corn hole.  He made it home before we left for dinner.

Doug's day of travel was long, but he made both flights and arrived home by 4:30.  We were all very glad to see him as we really thought that he would end up delayed or have to drive home from Orlando or Kansas City.  The five of us went to Goshen Brewing Company for dinner.  Cal and Meg had never been there, but enjoyed it very much.  I was thankful to have everyone join us.  Cameron let us know on the way home that he had inherited the family "clutch" gene.  This led to a debate on who he inherited it from in the family.  Doug suggested Uncle Dan, but we were pretty sure that wasn't it.  I was positive that it was Doug as he was the one who scored in a shoot out to got to Regionals in high school soccer.  We decided to let Uncle Phil decide.  He said that the only thing anyone could inherit from his brother, Dan, was an "injury gene."  We thought that was funny.  Phil did agree with me that Doug would have the "clutch gene." 

Nick arrived shortly after we got home.  He and Meg went to his home for the night.  Cal and Cameron played corn hole until dark and then we brought out the big screen.  We watched The Grey, a thriller staring Liam Neeson.  They liked it as much as we did when we first saw it.  Watching it outside made it even better.  It was a fun way to end a wonderful day.

Summer Tennis

Cameron was scheduled to play in the summer tennis league on Monday night.  Rain postponed it to Wednesday evening and then moved it again to tonight.  It was cooler than normal for a June evening, but overall it was a really nice night for tennis.  As we didn't have a lot going on today, Meg and I decided to drive to Middlebury to watch Bethany play.  

Because of all of the changes in schedule only four Bruins were available this evening.  Cameron was on the doubles court with Keegan when we arrived.  They lost their match to Goshen, but kept it close.  Cameron looked pretty rusty, but after a few games started to show shades of last year.  In the second match, he was paired with Breece.  They played very well together, but couldn't overcome the strength of Westview's doubles team.  Even with the two loses, it was a lot of fun to watch Cameron back on the court.  It was hard to believe that this would be our last season of high school tennis.  

Cameron and Meg celebrated the return of summer tennis with a trip to Martin's for sushi.  By the time they got home, Cal had arrived.  We had to drop his car off at Monteith to have the brakes fixed tomorrow.  Afterward we watched the newest episode of Obi-Wan really enjoyed it.  The only down part of today was when Doug called to let us know that his flight for tomorrow had been cancelled.  They rebooked him on an earlier one that would make a stop in Kansas City before arriving in Midway two and a half hours later than he had originally planned.  I was nervous about the change, but at least he was on a flight.  When I checked to see if there was anything else available, all flights were full through Monday morning.  

Suffering

 Last night after Stranger Things ended, Cameron, Meg and I spent about an hour talking.  The conversation at first focused mainly on the characters of the series, what they were undergoing as teenagers and how accurate their representations were compared to real life drama.  While we were talking, Meg shared a few posts that she had read recently on social media surrounding current topics in the news - the war in Ukraine, gas prices, the formula shortage and gun violence.  What she found most interesting about these posts were people trying to compare the suffering of individuals.  She felt that some were being chastised for complaining because others "had it worse."  

After Meg finished reading several of the posts and comments, we talked for quite awhile about the absurdity of equating anyones grief, fear or sorrow with another's.  It reminded me of the "Finish your plate. Don't you know there are starving children in Africa?" mentality.  I couldn't understand how anyone still believed that belittling a person for being concerned about how they were going to pay for gas to get to work or find formula for their child during the nationwide shortage would benefit a person living in a war torn country.  In fact I thought the lack of sympathy and caring would only make the problem worse.  Meg echoed my sentiments and said that was why she had steered clear of social media lately.

In the end I thought Cameron said it best when he stated that he didn't understand how anyone could quantify suffering.  If his grief was rated a "two" and another's was an "eight", did that lessen his sorrow?  He also wondered how anyone could believe that there was a ratio for suffering.  Emotions were individual feelings, not to be minimized, but to be empathized with and acknowledged as real.  Cameron's words resonated with me.  I was reminded of all that he had been through these past few weeks.  By sharing his  own thoughts on suffering, Cameron reminded me that God called all of us to "Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the laws of Christ." - Galatians 6:2

Making the Best of Our Time Apart

Doug and I realized with all of the time apart this past year that we would have to find a way to make the best of it.  Constantly missing being together or complaining about the situation would only make it worse.  We figured that one way to help the situation was to keep busy with projects.  The other was to do all of the things that we enjoyed, but perhaps the other one didn't.  For Doug that meant catching up on old movies, listening to jazz and watching sporting events.  For me that was finishing projects and binge watching whatever series I was obsessed with at the time.

Last night Doug left for Ocala for a short business trip.  He was going to use his time away from home to work, jog, watch a few movies, catch the NBA finals, eat dinner at Tijuana Flats and enjoy the Florida landscape.  My plans centered around finishing a few projects at home, but mostly hanging out with Cameron and Meg.  The three of us hadn't gotten to do a lot together these past few weeks.  We definitely made up for that today.  

First, we headed to Kohls and Shoe Carnival to do some shopping.  Afterward we had lunch at Hacienda where Cameron decided that he needed a "It's Chimi Changa Time Hat!"  The food was great and we all enjoyed our time together.  Next on our agenda was episode six of Stranger things.  It was really good.  We took a break afterward so that Cameron could play a practice round at Black Squirrel and Meg could meet Philip for tennis.  Both enjoyed their evening with Cameron shooting a 76 and Meg appreciating the fellowship and exercise.  

Once the two of them arrived home we turned on Stranger Things immediately.  The seventh and last episode currently released was as good as Meg said that it would be.  Neither Cameron nor I figured out the twist at the end of the show making it even more dramatic.  After it ended we talked for nearly an hour about everything from our opinion about the show to some interesting posts on social media.  It was a lot of fun.  I missed Doug today, but hanging out with Meg and Cameron definitely made it much easier.