My honey’s favorite pastime is lawn blowing. In some cultures this is a social event. The men like to drink, joke and participate in good natured odds making; they enjoy the camaraderie while the wives or girlfriends watch, chat and sometimes participate.
Before I played, as a date I rated it low on the scale of spending time with someone I care about. Turns out I was wrong. A social date is similar to interval training; I enjoyed short spurts of heart thumping romance when he put his arms around me to demonstrate the perfect technique for throwing the ball or when his eyes sought mine to give me a silent message.
He teased me into a game, his skill against my beginners’ luck. I have just one rule, he can’t be so condescending to just let me win. No matter how frustrated I become to work for it or it’s just not exciting. His friends joined the action by saying I would win and trying to break his concentration. I didn’t have anything to prove except that I could become a worthy opponent.
He tossed out the ball-bearing sized ball and I stepped to the line holding a yellow grapefruit-sized ball. I tossed it trying to get it to land as close to the smaller ball as possible. The trick is to use physics to an advantage, minimize rolling and maximize friction. I landed eight inches away. Good, but not great.
He needed to land closer or hit my ball or the smaller ball way. He tossed a green ball and it rolled to snuggle up to the target. Since his throw would be the last in the round, he had the advantage. My chance was to move his ball away from the target. My aim was good and his ball rolled off the court and mine stayed near the target. His turn; he had no choice except getting rid of my ball. Smack. My ball flew off the court.
His friends congratulated him. I couldn’t resist a jab. “Maybe if it wasn’t ladies first I would have won.” I issued the challenge, he accepted. During the game, I learned how to use two balls for strategy because that’s how he won again.
He left me no choice. I had to cheat. By distracting him I won one round. Not to be outdone all the women joined in. A sustainable relationship benefits from the village and a little (ahem) friendly competition can be quite romantic.
THE END
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