Brad was a good bowler. I think it is due to his intelligence more than anything. He was a physicist to the core. He understood every day things on a level that made everything look like rocket science. It was no different with bowling. While I would look at the sport as a matter of getting a big ball to knock down some wooden pins by rolling it down a hallway, he would look at it more like a math problem with constant variables that he could manipulate to make his game good. My average was around 145, his was closer to 250.

We bowled on a league when we lived in Alabama with a couple of friends from church. Brad was the only ‘real’ bowler, so he taught the rest of us to keep up with him. We had a lot of fun. That was definitely one of few highlights from Alabama. We continued with bowling when we moved to Florida. For a while, we each did two leagues. One together and one apart each. He continued to get better and I….got out of the house with some girlfriends.

Since Brad died I have only been bowling a few times. I enjoy bowling, but it was kind of our thing. Its kind of funny how I forgot about that….

I know a lot of people say they feel their ‘dearly departed’ near to them, or lingering after they die. It was never like that for me. When Brad died, he was gone.  I know he isn’t “gone” but, he is busy working. He had so many limitations here on earth, now that they are gone he is free to be all he can be. I’ve tried to feel him near me at home, at church, and even at the temple, but the feeling I always get is that he is ‘busy.’

Brian and I went bowling tonight for cosmic bowl. Its a fun, open bowling night with music and cool disco lights. We had a good time. As I was bowling, I tried to remember all the tips Brad used to give me when we would bowl. As I concentrated, I started to hear his voice….like I used to. All those tips he would give me that would help me and sometimes irritate me, were coming back to me. I quieted my mind and stretched to hear his voice and it worked.

What an unexpected thing to have happen. After all the times in the past three years when I have wanted to hear Brad, to feel him near, or to just have some sort of comfort….and I got it on lane 30 at the bowling alley. It’s not that I think bowling tips from beyond the grave aren’t pretty outstanding, but to me it says he is still there…he still cares….and maybe, just maybe, he misses me as much as I miss him. Cause I said so.

Photo credit: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=images+of+bowling+strikes&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1345&bih=591&tbm=isch&tbnid=yDt_hPVbY1ogvM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bowling.com/blog/index.php/category/tips/&docid=aFDcRuzAT28WuM&imgurl=http://www.bowling.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bowlingstrike.jpg&w=500&h=371&ei=W08vUNDwJ-j2iwLnqICABg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=111&vpy=144&dur=2314&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=146&ty=113&sig=113066672481944259300&page=1&tbnh=122&tbnw=163&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:75