So TH picked date #5 and we went bowling. (okay it wasn't wrestling so I didn't complain). And bowling definitely counts as a date we haven't done together recently or, for that matter, since before we were married...when we were actually dating. And you know what, it was fun and we had a lot of laughs.
I had made plans to go bowling the week before with my high school girlfriends, and when I told TH he was a little disappointed. That's when he told me he had been planning that for our next date. As it turns out, I was sick in bed on the day the girls went bowling and I couldn't join them.
On Sunday morning we went out for brunch with two couples that are our oldest friends. The guys are TH's childhood pals and we try to get together several times a year....but definitely every January for Sunday brunch. We had a great time, as we always do...but once we were back home we realized we had the rest of Sunday ahead of us with nothing to do (and the Patriots were out of the playoffs). That's when TH announced it was date time. (I'm so excited that he is really embracing this concept.) Plus I needed some exercise to work off the huge buffet we had just devoured.
So off we went to Boston Bowl. On the way we tried to recall the last time we'd been bowling together and we couldn't remember even one time since we'd been married. Oh, we had been to Boston Bowl many times prior, they are open all night long and it was always a popular place to end dates after the clubs closed. I was on the bowling team in high school, and TH and I were both in a league sponsored by the bar that sponsored his softball team before we were married. Both of those teams bowled at Lucky Strikes, another local bowling alley.
When our sons were growing up we took them to many bowling alleys, usually when they attended birthday parties, but neither of us could ever remember bowling with the kids. Often TH took the boys on his own, but he said they played games in the arcade, or they shot pool...but never bowled. And TH and I remembered having breakfast at the cafe inside the bowling alley many, many, many times...but apparently we never bowled on those occasions either. Weird.
This bowling alley has both ten pin and candlepin. We had always bowled candlepin (little balls). For a few minutes we contemplated trying ten pin...that would have been a brand new experience for both of us. But we didn't even know how many balls to roll for each frame. And then we each picked up a ball and practiced swinging our arms and decided NAH...those balls are pretty heavy. We'll stick with the little balls.
Now bowling is pretty intuitive....there is no learning curve involved here. It's not like riding a bike or skiing, you can stay away for thirty-five years and get right back in the groove after rolling the first ball. But the experience has certainly changed. For starters, everything is digital! There are TV monitors everywhere.
While you're bowling you can watch poker, football, advertisements, or your own scorecard. However, it was sensory overload, like a casino, with all the noises and blinking lights. Apparently on weekend nights they even have something called Cosmic Bowling where they turn off the lights and flood everything in neon. Yikes!
Oh...something else that was new....the lanes had bumpers along the gutters. What? no gutter balls? There were some little kids bowling in the alley adjacent to ours, and (not intentionally) their balls were banking off the bumpers and knocking down far more pins than we were hitting when we rolled our balls straight down the lane. It was crazy. We found out afterwards that the bumpers are removed for league play, and we could have requested they be lowered, as well.
You don't even have to keep score anymore while bowling, it's all done automatically for you. Good thing...because I'm not sure either of us would have remembered how to keep score. But that meant no more cheating or practice balls...every roll down the alley is recorded electronically. We only bowled one string because, quite frankly, we both sucked. Those little kids next to us did better than we did. And TH beat me soundly by 11 points, but that's not saying much!
I think one of the reasons I stayed away from bowling for more than three decades is my aversion to putting my foot into rental shoes that complete strangers have sweat in. But lo and behold, now with the price of the shoe rental, you receive a brand new pair of socks. Of course they have the business logo on them and you would never want to wear them again, LOL.
Just to be on the safe side, I had also brought an extra pair of my own socks....so I had to order a size 9 shoe to accommodate the three pair of socks. TH thought I was insane, but what else is new?
When we turned our shoes in, they let us donate our new socks to charity. Really? We did of course, because we had no further use for them. However, I couldn't help but picture all these homeless people in shelters walking around with socks that say "Boston Bowl" "Open24/7" on them. Hmmmm. Now I am wondering if this was really a scam and the socks are just being washed in the back room and passed off again as brand new to unsuspecting shoe renters. Okay, call me paranoid.
On the way home we discussed how weird it was to not have done something for 35 years. It's hard to believe we are actually old enough to say we haven't done something in 35 years!
...and when we stop to realize how quickly those 35 years passed, it's difficult to fathom that we probably won't even be alive 35 years from now. I have a feeling we won't let that many years go by again before we go bowling.
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