"Best Day of My Life"

This year has certainly been one that none of us will forget anytime soon! Even with all of the craziness that has been 2020 (that includes all 582 days we have had so far this year), there has been one constant. With my apologies to people like me who are baseball fans and immediately hear James Earl Jones saying "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball," the one constant I am talking about in this situation is Golf Day with the kids at Ranken Jordan.

While there was about an eight week break in the early summer when I could not go to the hospital to be with the kids, golf continued on each and every week. The staff at Ranken Jordan is so awesome that there were even a couple of weeks when I showed up virtually to help the kids! Golf has become such an important part of weekly activities at Ranken Jordan that everyone, especially the kids, wanted to keep playing. The weeks that I had to miss were pure torture because spending time with the kids has become just as important to me. Fortunately, since the middle of summer I have been able to go back every week to play golf with the kids, while following all necessary safety protocols. As it has been since the first day of the junior golf program there, each and every day has been special.

 

Recently we had a new junior golfer join us and she provided a moment that left me in awe, speechless, and nearly in tears. Those of you who know me best realize how tough it is to have me speechless! As usual when we are inside in Warner's Corner with the kids, we had target nets set up. On this particular day there were some tables and also a couch on our "driving range" so we got a bit creative with where we put the target nets. One of those nets was put on the couch and as our new junior golfer started hitting she confidently declared that she was going to hit one in the bullseye of that target! She immediately got to work in an attempt to accomplish that goal and hit several pretty close to the net, but none in it. Following a club change from her caddie (rec. therapist) and a minor tweak to her setup (her wheelchair was not aligned correctly to allow her to set the clubface square to the golf ball and target line), she started hitting shots all around the net, but still none in it. Only a couple of moments after moving off to help one of the other kids, I heard a yell that anyone getting a hole-in-one would be proud of, and it was followed by this exclamation -- "I did it! This is the best day of my life!!" Yes, she had indeed hit one right in the bullseye just as she said she would!

These are the exact moments that I had missed so much during the few weeks I was unable to go to Ranken Jordan. Experiences like that are exactly why spending time every week with the kids is so meaningful and impactful to me. Showing them they can do something they might not have thought they could, hearing them clearly state a goal with this new game, and then accomplish that goal, is such an incredible feeling that I cannot adequately describe it. For almost 10 years I have been amazed every week by what I see the kids do at Ranken Jordan, and the story I just told is no different. I could never say thank you enough for being allowed to go there each week to spend time with the kids, and what the kids may not realize is that I look forward to Golf Day just as much as they do. Now, is it Wednesday yet?