Bowled over

It's not a given that athletic ability is passed on from one generation to the next.

In this instance, I am actually using the word athletic quite loosely. I'm talking about bowling!

I got an entertaining e-mail from my cousin Lonna today. She said she saw my parents this weekend at a 25th anniversary for her brother and his wife. Later, a group of them went bowling. (I guess that's one of those things they do Up North after a celebration of marriage.)

She wrote: "Your dad was pretty funny, he got a strike and hit the floor just like the pins. I was worried he'd break a hip or something, but he got right back up. Your mom got a 6 her first game, I think, but improved by like 600% to get almost 60 in the second game."

OK, I can totally picture my dad doing that. I am surprised, though, with my mother's lack of kegling ability (that's a big bowling word my hubby uses when he's trying to impress people ... that and his personalized "Jimmy" ball.)

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my mom's mom -- Grandma Florence Johnson -- was quite the bowler. Flossie, as she was known by her teammates, was throwing strikes well into her 70s.

Back in the day, "Bowling For Dollars" was a popular TV show (trust me, there wasn't much on TV), so I thought it was pretty cool to have a bowlin' granny. Maybe she'd be famous! At least around the Grantsburg bowling lanes (all 6 of them), she was.

Apparently, my mother never learned the moves -- unless she got them from an ancestor who played baseball. Her excuse for her poor score, which she reported was actually a 21, not 6, was her curve ball.

Of course, in baseball, when you have a decent curve ball, it often leads to a strike. Maybe Mom was suited up for the wrong game!