An Unlikely Golf Groupie: Fangirling My Way Through A Year of Pandemic Anxiety
As many stories do, this one starts with a cute guy.
But this story isn’t actually about the cute guy. It’s about the sport he is passionate about and introduced me to.
The sport that did what little else could — it calmed the overwhelming anxiety I started experiencing about six months into the pandemic. Anxiety that I have never experienced before in my life and that has kept me isolated and — as I like to joke — almost feral.
Golf soothed that anxiety…and my soul.
Almost a year ago, I made a new friend. As is the case with a good lot of my Facebook friends, we had been virtual friends for a few years before that, simply because we had written and edited for the same publication. I admired his eloquent writing and the vulnerable stories he so openly shared before I even knew him.
Words are my thing, and his made an impression on me. But he didn’t just write words…he wrote words that matter. He wanted to make a difference.
I had mad respect for how he showed up and made a difference in the world. Not only did he serve his country and deploy several times to Iraq and Afghanistan, he also donated a kidney to his best friend who was battling kidney disease a few years ago…without even…
