Saturday, July 09/16
Today's musical suggestion is "Take It From Me" by the KONGOS
As I've previously mentioned my company was bought by an American competitor and we've been going through a rather disjointed integration these past couple of months. Whenever I'm asked what I mean by disjointed I liken it to being asked to play quarterback and being inside a closed off freight car rumbling down railroad tracks doing 55 miles per hours at 3am with a howling wind blowing rain, sleet, snow in your face and being asked to make the perfect throw through a hoop.
It's possible but not likely and nothing I'd bet the mortgage money on.
Our American counterparts get two days off for American Independence day, both the 4th and 5th, and in order to balance things out we were given July 1st and the 4th off as well. The only problem being we are at quarter end and with tight SEC reporting deadlines looming a few of us had to work on Monday, yours truly included.
So to make up for it we took yesterday off and I went golfing with one of the other M's from my group up at Pakenham. M lives near the course and we both really like it so it seemed like the perfect choice to play on our day off. It was my first time playing with M and I have to say it was much more enjoyable than I first thought possible.
Unlike when I play with my regular golf buddy B, I felt no pressure to play well and it really relaxed me and I was able to just play the course and have some fun. M played really well, much better than he says he normally plays but it was all good. We commiserated over bad shots and took pleasure when the other made a great shot, like when M sank a nice 18 foot putt from just off the green on the 7th hole on the Lake 9 for a sweet birdie
We took a couple of selfies and had to share them with the other M who couldn't get off as he didn't work on Monday. M2 wasn't too thrilled with us and said he hoped we hit all our shots into the ponds spread across the course. We just laughed at that one.
After we finished our front 9 we stopped by the clubhouse to grab something cold to drink, not alcohol as it was only 10am, and I noticed a very unique tattoo on the arm of the young lady working the counter. Now I've seen it before during my other rounds on the course but never thought to ask her about it and this time I didn't even think about it and asked her what it signified. You see it was two separate dates in Roman numerals, one above the other on her left forearm, the side that faces you when you can see the palm of your hand.
She paused to look down at it and smiled at me when she looked up and told me they were the dates of her fathers birth and death. I looked down at them once again before smiling back at her and told her I couldn't think of a nicer tribute and I'm sure it made him smile whenever he looked down upon her from heaven. I left money on the counter and took the drinks out to the cart where M was waiting and as I stood there talking to him the young lady came out and before I could say anything she hugged me and said thank you for the kind words as it reminded her of how much her father loved her and her mother.
As I drove the cart over to the next 9 I have to admit to fighting back a tear as the thought of her losing her dad at such a young age made my heart ache and so glad I'm still around for my own children.
I could sense M looking at me and without taking my eyes the path I said "What?"
He shook his head and replied "You are very different outside the office away from all the stress and crap"
I asked what meant by that and he said that I come across as just fed up with everything and I admitted that working for our controller was taking a lot out of me as he does nothing, takes credit for everything we're doing, and has to be one of the most incompetent managers I've ever worked for in my career. Feelings I've done nothing to hide from him or our bosses in Sunnyvale when they've asked me about how he is doing. The consensus is he is in way over his head and they should have just made one of the existing team a senior lead and gone from there when they bought us out but they don't think they can do that this late in the game, most of us are only there till the end of September and in order to keep us from leaving they've basically told us to deal directly with our managers in Sunnyvale and bypass the on site controller. Pretty shitty way to deal with the mess they created themselves.
I sort of laughed and told him if he mentioned one word of what just happened to anyone in the office I'd pull the tires off his car, put them on the roof, and light the whole thing on fire.
"And he's back" was his response with a deep laugh.
Our back 9 was pretty good and I'd say it was one of my best rounds of golf over the past few seasons, not based on the score but solely on how much fun I had and that's the ultimate objective.
When I got home I was surprised to see my son still there as he told me he was going to meet some friends at the movies for 11:30 am and then head to his mom's afterwards to start his week with her.
As I came in through the side door I found him in the kitchen emptying the dishwasher and asked what was he still doing home. He said the movie they wanted to see didn't start till 2pm so he was just tidying up before heading out. I thanked him and told him to have a great weekend with his mom and I'd see him at soccer practice on Tuesday. As he headed to the door he stopped and gave me a hug and I held on for a bit longer than usual and told him how much joy he gave me and he said smiled and said he loved me too.
I ended up heading out around 4pm and managed to play another round of golf at Glen Mar and didn't fare too badly. The best thing is that my body didn't seem to mind the extra holes and might be telling me it's time to head back to the gym now that my back is healed up from the surgery.
I know where I'll be tomorrow at some point :)
I also know what my next tattoo will be............some pretty damn important dates in my life
My name is Marcus and this blog is my attempt to write about being a father, friend, co-worker, coach, and maybe some day someone's significant other once again.........
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