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Marianne condon's avatar

You brought me back 30 years to a vacation near Kiawah island. My 5 year old saw hundreds of white golf balls on the grass behind the condo that we were renting and wanted to go see. Not being golfers- I didn’t know!

As we collected a few in amazement we suddenly heard whizzing and looked up to see golf balls raining down. WTF??? It then dawned on me that even though we couldn’t see it , we are on a driving range. Off we ran with a memory that we still laugh about. Thanks for the reminder!

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Marianne condon's avatar

That golf ball became symbolic of what can happen when making that spur of the moment decision -to go off the planned course . Unintended,unexpected joy.

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Christopher Cook's avatar

❤️❤️🔥❤️❤️

"This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavor to explain to you.... I once read a silly fairy tale, called “The Three Princes of Serendip”: as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of ... now do you understand Serendipity?"

—Horace Walpole, January 28th, 1754

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Ha! That's kind of a crazy place to put a condo, no? Or a crazy place to put a driving range…

Does your 35-year-old still remember?

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Marianne condon's avatar

Yes- lol, hey mom remember that day … he stuffed his pockets full. The dilemma was - how to return them. We didn’t !

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Christopher Cook's avatar

I'm sure they don't mind!

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Steven Paul's avatar

That was priceless, my friend. I am moved to tears. Thank you.

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Thank you. That is how I felt as I wrote it.

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albert venezio's avatar

Very poetic and sensitive Christopher!

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Crixcyon's avatar

Back in the earlier 1960's when we would ride our bikes about 3-4 miles to go to the putt-putt golf course, I recall having the hardest time deciding what color ball I wanted to play with. Looking at that picture, it would still be a hard decision.

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Fluorescent scarlet-pink FTW!

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Philip Mollica's avatar

Reminds me of this song John Lydon (Rotten) wrote for his wife before she passed away after a long ordeal with dementia. There sure is something about being a true loving partner to someone, and the memories that will continue throughout eternity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HURFlF8CyV8

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Christopher Cook's avatar

That was very touching.

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Hat Bailey's avatar

To experience more of that kind of thing in this world. A noble goal, could heaven be much out of reach?

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Christopher Cook's avatar

This is heaven too!

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Tonya's avatar

The AI-generated picture didn't do the colors justice, but I could see each one in my mind's eye as you described them.

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Christopher Cook's avatar

Then I did my job!

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Christine's avatar

I love this love story so much. It happily reminds me of my own. 🥰

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Christopher Cook's avatar

I am so glad!

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Apr 16
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Christopher Cook's avatar

I am glad you found it so.

Some people don't want any relief. When I occasionally post something nice, a few people unsubscribe—because they want nothing but endless doom, apparently.

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Apr 16
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Christopher Cook's avatar

Yep. Humans have a strong negativity bias, though. Probably a result of evolutionary survival mechanisms. It takes an active thought—"focus on something positive!"—to tear many of us away from our natural focus on threats and things to overcome or make better.

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