Strike! Bowling + Life Parallels: Episode 16
When Mary Ann first embarked on the path to becoming a “respectable” bowler, she dove in with enthusiasm and fortitude. Nothing, and no one would stand in her way. What she did not expect was the complexity of planning, thought and strategy that were part of this sport she previously gave little or no thought to, and if she had, surely would have viewed it as mindless but fun. Also, taking her by surprise were the generosity of the people she met, and the life lessons she learned along the way. Join Mary Ann on her meaningful, and at times extremely funny journey.
Episode 16: The End of the Road.
A good but bittersweet ending.
Final competition day was here. It had all the makings of a disaster as we were short a person and the IT guy, Mr. 200 plus, was bowling for IT. He wound up with the high men’s score at 213 and a veteran woman bowler bested my 142 by eight pins. My 142 held up as high woman until the very end.
But our team won the team trophy back. We pulled it out with a real team effort as we didn’t win either of the high individual bowler trophies, but we did win high two game series with 904 to take home the team trophy. We had some fun!
Perhaps the best part of my bowling adventures was the support and encouragement that I received from those along the way who shared this with me. From the owners at the bowling alley who made me feel welcome from day one, to Rob who never gave up on me even though my stubbornness made him crazy, to everyone who would email me with kind words, to the discussions with family and friends, I felt special the whole time. This all was the wind beneath my wings, as they say. It absolutely propelled me to do better. It absolutely would never have been so special for me otherwise.
Competition was over forever, and my bowling career has since been shelved, but that team trophy has been displayed proudly ever since, right alongside the loser pin I won all those months ago.
Mary Ann's Bowling Trophies. From "Most Honest Bowler" to "Highest Team Score."
THE END
Editor's Epilogue: We named this Series Strike! Bowling + Life Parallels because--well, to state the obvious, pretty much everything Mary Ann was experiencing and learning about herself in her all-you-can-bowl nights, the friendships she was building at the bowling alley, and her relationships with her coworkers during the competition was happening not only at the bowling alley. In fact, soon after the bowling competition came to its end, the transaction was finalized that completed the acquisition of Mary Ann's company, a bank that was more than 126 years old. So, in fact, in "real life" a very good team, that had pulled together in good times and through challenging ones, disbanded. One could argue that all of them, as hard as it was, were better off having "played."
