PHSCC Staff Bowling Champs

So I've been bowling on Thursday afternoons in this mini Plainfield High School Central Campus bowling tournament.  The whole thing was only 5 weeks long. You would bowl three games and the top three bowler's scores in two games were combined to get your team's total pinfall. My team, the Sum Buddies, consisted of fellow math teachers Toni Reedy (department chair), Judy Link, Mary Glinke (my maternity leave replacement), and Kari Kleckauskas. After two weeks of bowling, half of the teams were eliminated and the rest made it to a bracket situation. Somehow, this group of gals managed to fight our way through the tourney. Mind you, I was the only one with recent league experience and Judy used to bowl when she was a kid. We entered the brackets as the number 1 seed! It was crazy! Today, it came down to us and the #2 seed just like it should have played out. We knew it would be a close match because last week we only topped the #2 team by 2 pins! Anyway, tonight I rolled a 216-probably one of my best games ever, and we edged out a victory by a mere 2 pins. Had we counted the top three bowlers for all three games, we would have lost. I took Bridget along with me because Shawn was leaving for the Cubs game at 4:30 and neighbor Jeannie was going to watch the kids. So I figured it would be easier on Jeannie if Bridget wasn't around asking her to play Hide and Seek or hopscotch in the house. It was a good day to bring Bridget along because Judy also brought her 4 year old, Ryan with. Bridget and Ryan had lots of fun playing together. They colored, found hidden pictures, ate snacks and just hung out together. It was also really cute when Ryan asked Bridget to come to his birthday party in the park in June. We'll see if we can make it because that's one of the days Shawn is in Tokyo. Bridget was loving the attention from the other teachers. She knew several of them from prior outings and was giving out hugs left and right. She also asked Mary if she could come to her house and play with her. She's just dying for all that attention she was used to getting!

I'm kinda bummed now that my 5 weeks of bowling is over. It was nice looking forward to getting out of the house if even for a few hours. I also realized how much I miss bowling regularly. For whatever reason, I bowl well at our local lanes. In the five weeks, I broke 200 three times and probably averaged about 165 overall. Being around the teachers again also made me realize how much I do miss the daily grind of teaching high school math. Funny, because usually around this time of year I'm desperately looking forward to summer vacation! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess.