Bowling Sadness...

I like bowling. A lot. I used to go every week in college on Thursdays or Fridays ($1 a game) and I still try to go every few weeks if I can get out of work fast enough... People always ask who I go with so I'll get it out of the way and say I go alone and play anywhere from 6-10 games by myself...

Ever since I started bowling in college, there was always an elderly Japanese couple bowling together. I would guess they're in their 70s or maybe even 80s. We would make small talk here and there when we're next to each other on the lanes (the bowling regulars are very friendly) and they were always very polite and a joy to bowl next to... I always have a soft spot for really old couples that still seem to keep their love intact... Anyways, they got their lane next to me today and I haven't seen them in a while so we exchanged some small talk here and there. But I realized the grandpa wasn't speaking and had trouble finding his bowling ball and knowing when it was his turn to bowl. ***Now for all you non-bowlers out there, bowling etiquette is that you're never supposed to get on the lane and bowl if the person next to you is already on the lane ready to bowl. You're supposed to let them bowl first, then get up and bowl yourself. It's extremely annoying when bowling next to people who do not know bowling etiquette!*** Anyways, I would wait for him to bowl but he'd just stand there looking through all the balls and his wife would come up and tell him which one was his ball. Then he's spend more time trying to figure out how to put his fingers in the ball and his wife would literally put them in for him. After this happened a few times, she finally came over to me and whispered an apology for making me wait. She told me he developed Alzheimer's and isn't the same anymore... All I could do was merely express my condolences and let her know that I have all the time in the world and waiting wasn't a problem... She then went back to helping him find his ball and place his fingers inside it. It was incredibly sad and beautiful to watch her do this with a smile on her face, every single time...

I don't know what the point of this post is... I guess I just wanted to share it... I bowled terribly today but after that moment, I didn't bother looking up at the score again. Keeping score couldn't have been more unimportant...