Oh the embarrassment! Cleaned up by my 80 year young father!
I suppose I shouldn't take it so hard as he has regularly beaten me in my earlier contests with him. In fact he has been consistently competitive over the years and we have brought out the best and worst in each other at times. Neither of us likes to lose.
I should be philosophical about the result as I did gain a convincing victory last time and I did have some bad luck this time.But some how this does not seem to bring me any solace!
I'm beginning to sound more like John all the time. Must have read too many of his blogs. If only I could express my feelings as well as he! If I could you would truly understand how devastating this defeat was!
I suppose you are saying to yourself ''Get over it man. It's only a game!''. If only I couild take some consolation in that thought!
I mean the humiliation. How can I possibly hold my head high when I've been comprehensively thrashed 4-0. I suppose there will be other days and hopefully better days where I can restore some self respect.
Back to the drawing board. Out with the pool cue and a strict practising regime before I head back down to Dunedin again to find some redemption. That is if my dad is gracious enough and willing to allow me the chance to challenge him again. He may now think I am not sufficiently skilled for him to bother playing with.
Can only hope I can pick up the pieces and get myself sorted out before next time.
I do apologise for my ramblings and the negative depressing nature of this blog. Do forgive me. It has been a long upsetting and trying day in coming to terms with my recent defeat.
Thrashed in pool 4 - 0 by my ageing father. The shame!
2 comments:
Knowing how very competitive you are with everything you do, I can well imagine that this must have been very hard for you. It is something that is not always easy for me to understand because I am not nearly as competitive, talented or good as you are. (If it will make you feel better, I can play some pool against you... I'm not very good, and I will surely lose - but I'm okay with that :-). )
I'd like to say that a coin has two sides.
On the one side you see that your dad beat you at your pool game. And it is not easy for you because you are really competitive and you are really good at what you choose to do. I have not met many people with as many achievements as you have.
However if you flip the coin, you will see that you had a nice time with your dad. That perhaps while you were not victorious on this occasion, you possibly left your dad with a sense of pride and achievement - that even though he is now 80, he is still capable and able to do something that is exciting and good and meaningful. And you gave him an exciting memory.
So often people at that age have very little left. They lost a lot of their independence, seldom still live independently in their own homes and have to rely on others to get around and do things that are no longer as easy as it was earlier. It must be hard most of the time to not have the same abilities as before and I imagine (from what I remember with my grandmother) a feeling that you are not always useful anymore.
Today you made your dad feel happy, excited, victorious. You made him feel that he still has what it takes. You gave your dad a priceless memory - time spent with his eldest child.
And in that lies the real victory for you.
Thanks Lea
I knew you'd find a positive slant on the contest. I appreciate your words of wisdom. I'm not really that upset and I agree it was great for dad. Have a wonderful Xmas day.
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