Last summer we attended the PGA Championship in Atlanta. Over the week of the tournament, I watched as my husband had difficulty recalling names of friends. I noticed how he wanted to be sure I was by his side...just in case, and I noticed how the crowds made him nervous. Events like this, which are out of the ordinary for our everyday life, seem to highlight the changes in my husband's functioning. When moments like this surface, I often find myself wishing that things could be different. But wishing isn't going to change anything, and it expends energy that could be used for more productive activities.
As I walked the course and watched several days of great golf, a common theme surfaced in my mind:
"Play the ball where it lies."
If a golfer drove his ball into the rough or a trap, he had to choose the right club and make adjustments in his swing to get himself out of whatever precarious situation he found himself in. The golfers didn't "give up" when the going got tough. They didn't ask to move their ball to an easier spot in the fairway. They used the tools they had and figured out a plan to get themselves back into the fairway or onto the green.
Likewise in my life, when I find myself in the "rough," I must "play the ball where it lies" by making adjustments in our lifestyle and choosing the right tools to try and keep us moving along in the fairway of life. My sons and my husband are depending on me to navigate us through these tough times. Giving up is not and option. Complaining about it doesn't solve anything. I simply need to take this lesson from golf and "play the ball where it lies."
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