Male and Family Bonding
Luther Punk wrote an interesting post about male bonding, and it reminded me that I have been involved in some serious male bonding as of late. Honestly, I think men need time with other males.
For the past few weeks, I have been golfing with some male buddies of mine, including my dad (although Jennifer came along once). I admit I wasn’t too sure how I would like golf, since I only played once from 1994-2006. However, I signed up for a charity golf outing with a buddy of mine (that I exercise with frequently), and thought I should actually practice for it. It turns out I love golf, especially seeing how hard and far I can hit the ball each time (minus putting of course). And it is cool to just hang out with friends on a gold course.
Second, I have been getting into target shooting since December. Last week in the evening I took a firearms safety/pistol training course with three other guys and two instructors. Honestly, it was some of the most fun I have had since high school. It was nothing too academic, nothing too deep, but just some good hanging out with some genuine guys.
Getting into shooting and golf has also had the effect of getting Jonathan and dad into them (or in the case of dad, “back” into them, since he was a pretty active golfer in the 1980s), and it has given us things to do together, along with tennis (which we played a lot of last summer). My dad and I have always had a good relationship, but for awhile it seemed as if Jonathan and I came and went while he watched TV (sometimes with mom). However, now he is out and active, and we are hanging out together. Plus, we all really need the exercise.
