We’ve spent the last two mornings volunteering at the Price Cutter Charity Championship which is part of the Nationwide Golf Tour. I worked on the tee box for hole #3 and Burl marshaled the fairway. We each had jobs that allowed us to watch these young professionals up close and personal and I was amazed at them for several reasons. For one thing, they are obviously darned good golfers - and several of them also exhibited exceptional behavior under fire after hitting not-so-good shots. But what was really nice was the fact that many of them thanked us for volunteering and they were very polite. Another bonus was working with some neat volunteers – yesterday was a lady who had worked at Cox a few years ago and remembered me, another was a recent college grad who was amazed to meet someone with a background in healthcare administration since she has considered that career and today was a young guy with whom I volunteered last year.
To further enhance the golf theme for the weekend, we played couples golf last night at our club. Burl plays with a dread of being DFL (that’s Dead F’ing LAST) which adds to my nervousness when we’re playing a scramble. Of course his first few shots were horrid and mine were too so the first two holes had us heading straight to DFL territory. On the third hole, he had another bad tee shot but mine was decent and then I had another good shot – much to my surprise! I was almost ready to get excited about golf when they blew the horn to call off play due to the weather forecast. Saved from DFL by the horn!
On the perpetual weight-challenge front, I know I fared well last week because we only ate out once – and dining out can be a real diet-killer for me. However, eating all our meals at home had to come to an end eventually – last evening we headed to Ruby Tuesday when golf ended and I did well with their salad bar by ignoring the bleu cheese and pasta salad.
Then today we met my nephew John, his wife Sherri and their boys Jack and Sam at the Pasta House for lunch. They were on their way back to Columbia from Branson where the boys had been at Kanakuk for the week and it was great to see them. Jack is 11 on his way to being a 30-year old nerdy, computer geek and he and Steve instantly bonded – he also enjoyed playing with our iPhones at lunch since his parents won’t allow him to have a cell phone yet (smart parents!). Sam is almost 9 and such a cutie plus being a versatile athlete – basketball, baseball, swimming, golf.
But back to my food ramblings – I managed to avoid the bread at noon and stuck to soup and salad. Then tonight we used an about-to-expire gift certificate to the Tower Club and I was faced with more temptation. I drank half of my light beer (Miller Light – I’m pretty much done with A-B after they sold out!), ignored the yummy flatbread and butter, passed on a salad and still couldn’t finish all of my grouper encrusted with crabmeat and avacado on a bed of lime orzo and balsamic veggies. Tomorrow night we’ve been invited to a suite at the Springfield Cardinals and while I MUST stay away from the nachos, I will have to spend a few extra points for the bratwurst that is always on the menu.
Choices, Choices…………but the only reason I’m having to deal with the current choices is because I’ve made some not-so-good food choices in the last year. I can almost hear my mother’s voice saying “Now Anne, you know that you’re responsible for your choices – you have no one to blame but yourself…blah, blah, blah” – yes Mother – you are right again – as always!
Next time, if I get to choose, I’m coming back as thin instead of beautiful and smart! 
