Seriously, Taffie?

Seriously… Maybe the Lane IS Crooked! 🎳

So apparently, after not bowling for about 20 years, I thought joining a bowling league sounded like a good idea.

Why?

I have absolutely no idea. 😂

My husband used to bowl professionally about 30 years ago.

Me?

My previous claim to fame was a high score somewhere around 70.

So naturally, the two of us joining a bowling league together seemed perfectly reasonable.

Going into the first night, I was nervous.

What if everyone was super competitive?

What if I was terrible?

What if people started telling me where to stand, how to hold the ball, how to throw it, what foot to use, where to aim…

Listen. I have enough people telling me what to do in life. I don’t need instructions from Lane 27. 😂

But then something happened.

I stopped caring.

Not in a bad way.

In the BEST possible way.

I remembered why I was there.

To have fun.

To get out of the house.

To laugh.

To get a little exercise.

And apparently to discover that Lane 27 has a very obvious structural problem that causes bowling balls to avoid pins.

Clearly. 😂

Okayyyy! First game: 87.

Considering my expectations were somewhere between embarrassing and please don’t let the ball go backward, I’ll take it.

Then came Game 2.

106!!!

EXCUSE ME?! 🎳😂

Look at me breaking 100 like somebody who actually belongs in a bowling league!

At this point, obviously, I was practically ready for sponsorships.

Then came Game 3.

Annnnd… 84.

Apparently my professional bowling career lasted approximately one game. 😂

But somewhere during all of this, I got loud.

I started joking with everybody.

At one point, my ball headed toward the gutter—or wherever the heck it decided it wanted to go—and I announced that the problem was obviously the lane.

“THIS LANE IS LEANING!”

Then I managed to hit ONE PIN.

One.

And you know what happened?

Everybody high-fived me. 😂❤️

And THAT was when I realized something.

Sometimes we spend so much time worrying about whether we’re going to be good at something that we forget we’re allowed to just enjoy being bad at it.

Nobody cared about my score.

Nobody was critiquing me.

Nobody expected me to bowl like my husband.

We were laughing, cheering each other on, and having a genuinely great time.

And maybe that’s something I needed to remember outside the bowling alley too.

Not everything has to be done perfectly.

Not everything has to become something you’re good at.

Sometimes you can do something simply because it makes you happy.

So yes, I joined a bowling league.

Yes, my husband can bowl circles around me.

Yes, I bowled an 87, a 106, and an 84.