Posted by lex, on January 14, 2006
Got a call from an occasional reader who was going to be in town this weekend, to see a young man from his church graduate from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot right here in Sandy Eggo. Asked, would I be interested in a round of golf?
I would, as it turned out.
Thank you very much, Mark.
Got us a tee-time at NAS MCAS Miramar. He even paid, which he oughtn’t have done, it being my hometown after all, and himself only a guest. But he insisted, said he’d put it back in the tip jar if I paid.
So you know what? I let him. I gave in. Turns out I’m not an oak.
It’s a habit, I’m falling in.
A great guy, old Navy, from the sewer pipe days of NAS Lemoore, California: One pilot, one mission, one tail, one-way. We had us a right fine round, full of good shots, missed putts and camaraderie. It’s the kind of thing would never have happened had I not one day, on “a lonely impulse of delight,” decided to put fingertip to keyboard and let the world see itself from behind my eyes.
Which can get just a little weird, when the world shows up at the mutually agreed upon rendezvous point to shake your hand and jump in the car, knowing a great deal more about you, having read what you have written (and often read between the lines) than any other “stranger” you have never met before, in the flesh.
But you know what else? I want to thank all of you that come here, from time to time. You have been an unfailingly decent class of people, and I’m proud to have made your several acquaintances. There is so much bile and hatred in the bitstream, a kind of evil that the anonymity enables.
But there are good people too. It’s worth remembering.
As is the fact that I am no longer 30 years old, and that trying to crack the driver 300-odd yards at every opportunity is the kind of thing guaranteed to send a man home wailing in distress, his back being the winter of his discontent. Or else to the day spa, where a lovely young thing named Leah was waiting and who, over the course of 90 minutes put everything aright. Dedicated she was, apart from all her other virtues.
Makes me want to play golf again.
And yes, I know I’m very far from perfect gentle reader. You don’t have to remind me. I’m working on it.
Slowly.
The Lexicans 