ain't got that swing...

our smallest guy had his birthday a couple of days ago and so we headed over to the golfland for a round of mini golf. being a veteran of the circuit i immediately tried to show everybody how it's done. "steady hands. lock the forefinger of your left hand with the pinky of your right...no swinging above the knees...and so on" needless, my invaluable golf lessons were completely ignored. i mean, come on. you're a kid and you've a got a bright colorful ball and a stick to hit it with, what fun is there in restraint, right? so as they launched and sliced and ricocheted off scale windmills, spanish forts and japanese pagodas i just beared down and played my own game. smooth, not to daring, sometimes taking the easy deuce over the risky hole in one attempt. sometimes laying it short in the water trap. and as my littles chased their balls up and down hills and sometimes through neighboring parties i quietly played on. my enemy myself. no tom foolery, no turning my putter into a sword to fence, no imagining i was a giant terrorizing the tiny golf community. and as we reached the 18th and i began to add it all up i really had to admit that they all had played a much finer game than i.