I love this time of year. The Final Four is in full swing. The Masters is just weeks away. Baseball is gearing up. And, after yet another horrendous Cleveland winter, the odd daffodil is blooming here and there. That means it’s almost time for what we Ohioans refer to as BUAPGDTES (Bundle Up And Play Golf Despite The Elements Season).
But as much as I love BUAPGDTES, I also feel the pain of a very special group of people. These long-suffering individuals see the same signs of spring I love so much and feel a sense of trepidation. They know the emergence of the tulips and the presentation of the Green Jacket mean another thing: It’s time to say goodbye to the person they love for six or seven months.
These heroic individuals aren’t the families of soldiers heading for Iraq (God bless them). Instead, they are the spouses and significant others that you Northern superintendents and staff members leave behind when the crazy season starts. They are the wives, husbands, children, girlfriends and boyfriends who become secondary to the needs of those 18 demanding little infants you care for each March or April.
Thus, I propose a new holiday for the golf industry calendar. I declare April 1 to not only be April Fools Day, but also “It’s April and that Fool Will Be Completely Wrapped Up in His/Her Job for the Foreseeable Future Day.”
This new holiday will be celebrated in a variety of ways, but mostly by lavishing special gifts on those loved ones you won’t see until September. Preferred presents include:
- Go someplace special next weekend. Just get away while you can. Any country inn or bed-and-breakfast will do.
- Take your kids fishing or hiking. Give them a taste of the same jazzy feeling you get from the outdoors that lured you into this nutty business in the first place.
- Rent five great old movies and watch them straight through while cuddling on the couch. Introduce your loved ones to that one really stupid film you secretly love (“Blazing Saddles” and “Airplane” come to mind).
- Tickle the living daylights out of them every time you see them. Tickling is the most under-rated of all family activities.
- Make huge ice cream sundaes and see who can eat them the fastest and messiest. No napkins or utensils allowed.
- Kisses, hugs, smiles and ... most importantly ... time spent with each other.
Congress might not get around to ratifying this new holiday soon (since they’re sooooo busy with critical national issues like eliminating steroids from baseball and managing the personal lives of brain-dead Floridians), so I recommend starting now. Stopping at the flower shop on the way home is always a good way to begin the festivities.
Seriously: Celebrate the ones you love before the wacky season starts.
You’ll be happier and saner as a result.
Keep in touch ...
Pat