After a weekend filled with celebration, sadness and a giant science fair project, we thought we would spend the remainder of our President's Day Weekend with a little family team building - specifically, bowling. Now let me start by saying that I am not a bowler. I did not grow up in a bowling family. To me, bowling was something that you got to do on your birthday with a couple of friends - if you were lucky.
My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a family where bowling was a sport, played for trophies, in matching shirts. If you doubt me, just check out the trophy collection in their basement.
So on this particular day, when we decided to go with our son's pick of $2.00 President's Day bowling, my consolation thought was, "At least we can practice our math skills!" That's what I remember about bowling. I remember graduating to third grade and finally being old enough to be considered a reliable scorekeeper. Simple addition wasn't too hard (which was most of the time), but get a strike or a spare and things got a little more complicated. (You know, wait to total until the next frame when the next ball counted twice - once added to the previous frame and once added to the current frame!) This is when things got interesting.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the case! Gone are the days when the man behind the shoe counter handed you a score card that you got to keep and put in your scrapbook. Gone are the days when you got to argue with your friends on whether or not there were four or five pins still standing. Gone are the days when scorekeeping could qualify bowling as a homeschool field trip! These days, scoring is all electronic, and my children may never have the the joy of doing mental gymnastics while holding an 8-pound orange ball. It reminded me of the last time I went to the store and the cashier couldn't count back my change without looking at the cash register. Are computers that do all the thinking for us, really making us smarter?
I'll tell you one thing they're not doing - and that is making me a better bowler! For the record, the reason my six-year old beat me was because she was playing with the bumper guards up! Who knew I could actually bowl my age?