It was a beautiful day for me. I got up early and drove down to the family Alex land and fished for the first time this spring season. The pond looked perfect. Absolutely perfect. My Walden’s Pond.
The land has been my refuge since my teenage years whenever I needed to get away and clear my mind from my parents’ seemingly always tumultous marriage. It’s where I learned solititude sometimes is the best medicine for a weary, wore-down soul. A place to block out the bullshit from the mind and reset.
I caught five black bass, four bluegill, and about a seven pound channel cat all on light tackle. The channel cat was a huge surprise given I was using a shad-like spinner. That was a rush for certain. I never keep fish at this juncture in my life. It’s all catch and release. So I said good-bye to the big cat and wished him well on his way.
Then I drove home taking in all the country-side in a very relaxed state of being. I was the most casual driver on the two-lane highways going through Blanchard, then Lindsey, then tiny Cole, then to the thriving metroplex of Alex. I always stay to the right though so as not to impede the speed of others. I just wasn’t in a hurry on this day. MJ was smelling the roses.
My Denver Nuggets won their third straight game to finish the regular season on an uptick with a record of 50-32. Jokic’s team now is the No. 4 seed in the West and will have homecourt versus the surging LA Clippers who btw now have a Kawhi Leonard who looks the best I’ve seen from him in quite some time. Pray for Steve Ballmer…god bless his basketball heart.
Then…the final round of this unbelievable Masters golf tournament which in my golf soul ranks somewhere in my top four golf tournaments of all-time in my lifetime. Maybe second only behind Jack’s late in life win at National Augusta.
I will write this to Justin Rose…dude, this was one of those times in life you didn’t lose. You in my mind won a green jacket just like Rory did late on Sunday afternoon. Your fight and grit was remarkable. It’s one of those Thomas Vincent Lombardi moments when you emptied your tank, but the stars and planets were aligned for Rory to finally get his career Grand Slam.
So… of course I cried. This was better than Robert Redford’s The Legend of Booger Vance.
My father’s favorite golfer is Rory…so you know what I did? I called my cousin-brother Mark’s cell number on Saturday just to see by chance if it was still a working number…and it is. I was so taken back about this fact…I had to make a second call just to leave a voicemail message to Mark. I basically just said how much I miss him and how much he’s loved…and then told him to make sure Bobby sees the rest of this golf tournament.
So when Rory was crying after the ending so was I. And I’m pretty certain Mark and Bobby were as well.
My beautiful Sunday.
Have a miraculous Easter Week. I know I’m going to.
Mike J