Birthdays in Heaven, a teeny-tiny golf club, and did you know - it's Sleep Awareness Week
This newsletter has something for everyone, here and in the Great Beyond.
Greetings Newsletter Family,
Today is March 14th. 🗓️
It’s a Thursday.
To you, these facts may have little significance.
(Other than Thursday being the day you get this newsletter.)
But for me, March 14th is special, as it would’ve been my dad’s 98th birthday.❤️
My dad’s last birthday was in March of 2020. Very fortuitously, our family celebrated his birthday in early March instead of his actual birthday, which would coincide with the world shutting down.
That said, his birthday party was the last time we all were together as a family, as my dad passed in May of 2020 and my mom seven months later.
So now, in 2024, I’m sending a birthday shoutout via Substack to my dad in what he called the Great Beyond. 🌌 Who knows, maybe that shoutout will lead to a whole new subscriber network.
But since that’s probably not going to happen, I’ll leave the link below for you to get on the Thursday mailing list, and if you like, take it a notch further for special paid subscriber content. I’m even running a one-day birthday special.
Speaking of Thursdays, when I was a kid, I always associated Thursdays with golf.
Not because I played golf on Thursdays but rather because my dad did. Thursdays were Men’s Day⛳️ - the day my dad looked forward to all week.
So, if you asked me, “Hey, what comes to mind when you think of Thursday?” My answer would be golf, my dad, and this newsletter.
And those three worlds are all about to collide.🌎
Growing up, we had a putting device in the family room and Golf Digests on the end table. I saw my dad try a variety of clubs, all in the name of improving his game. In later years, he made his own clubs. 🏌🏽♂️
I inherited my dad’s curiosity about clubs and gadgets, so it’s natural that my👂🏻👂🏻perked up when I went to a golf show a couple of weeks ago and saw a teeny tiny club that could increase my focus, help me strike the ball better, and improve my confidence.
Even if you don’t golf, look at the club below. (Isn’t it cute?)
This is the PUREONE HitFit training iron, designed to be smaller than a traditional iron so you can hit the “sweet spot” every time you play. As someone who has struggled with a lot of sloppy shots lately, I appreciate this idea mucho.
The philosophy behind the club is that since the club face is as small as it is, your brain becomes accustomed to hitting the sweet spot every time you swing. You feel like a superstar because as you practice, you’re nailing your shots.
Then, when you’re out on the course playing with your regular clubs, the neurons in your noggin make the connection, and BAM! You’re hitting shots accurately. This article by PUREONE explains the concept much better than I can.
In a nutshell, when a golfer hits a PUREONE club… it’s all about hitting the Sweet Spot. And hey, wouldn’t you know, this whole concept gave me the idea for What I’d Rather Be Talking About this week.
The beauty of the smaller face on the PUREONE club is that by using it,
we set ourselves up for success. 🏌🏾♀️
We can pick up that club and have a reasonable degree of confidence
that the shot is going to go where we want it to go.
And that feels good.
Chances are, we’ll then keep hitting with the club and practicing.
And the success continues.
As a result, our brains fill up with happy little goose pimples and we feel like we can do it.
When we feel like we can do it,
(see if you can guess what’s coming)
We end up doing it. 🙌
The PUREONE club sets us up for success, with the caveat that we put some time in.
I’ve got news for you (and me).
We don’t need a fancy club to set us up for success. We just need a positive attitude, the right equipment, training, and the willingness to put the time in.
And then the fun begins.
No clubs required.
Great photo of my dad at age 92, out on the course, maybe telling the guy in the cart to get a PUREONE, as he’d just shanked a ball directly into my dad’s leg.
Stay with me below; I have some podcasts, streaming recs, and books you or someone you know might appreciate.
podcasts & info
March 10-16 is Sleep Awareness Week, so you might want to check out Sleep, Anxiety, and Lack of Mental Clarity (oh, my). Or, cut to the chase and find out How to Sleep Better Tonight on A Certain Age with Kate Fogarty.
Not a podcast but a blog post with everything you ever wanted to know about sleep health.
And, if you need help with your Z’s, try 25 products for a better night’s sleep in 2024 or some natural sleep aids.
Photo by Gregory Pappas on Unsplash
good writing
It only seems fitting to share my dad’s writing here. He was a great writer and spent his later years recalling his life through letters/emails to his childhood friend Louie. You can find them at Letterstolouie.com
streaming
For fun - Fashion Trends of Spring/Summer 2024 (that are wearable). And more trends here - according to Pinterest. Btw, do you pin? I’m a late adopter when it comes to pinning, but wow, that is a wormhole of goodness.
This show has been around for a while, but for a nontraditional yet tender look at grief & grieving, check out Ricky Gervais’ Netflix show, After Life.
Bringing it back to golf - if you watched Season 1 of the golf docuseries Full Swing, check out Season 2. Three episodes in, and I’m hooked. It's interesting to see the behind-the-scenes look at the PGA/LIV story and its players.
Photo by Allan Nygren on Unsplash
books that might help you or send this to a friend
As I wrote about 2020 and losing my parents, a host of emotions cropped up, reminding me of the dark days of grief. That said, I wanted to share some resources in case you or someone you know is grieving the loss of a loved one.
My husband heard about the book Grief Is For People and bought it for me. I am halfway through and love author Sloane Crosley’s writing style and message. While the book is specifically written to help readers who have lost someone to suicide, the writing speaks to anyone who has suffered a loss. As Crosley states, “This is not a self-help book.” Rather, it’s the book she wishes she had when she was in so much pain after the death of her friend.
Another book that may help those grieving - specifically the loss of a parent or parents - is The Orphaned Adult. I wish I had known about this book four years ago - it speaks to the many emotions no one talks about that come with the loss of a parent, such as “the recognition of our own mortality and sudden child-like sorrow to a sometimes-subtle change in identity or shift of roles in the surviving family.”
Not a book, but a podcast that may help someone grieving. Check out “Terrible, Thanks for Asking” for a show “that makes space for how it really feels to go through the hard things in life and a community of people who get it.” And even though the podcaster is going to wrap things up on the show in early April, there are years of episodes to binge.
on a serious note
I’ve covered a lot of territory today - from grief to sleep to golf clubs to recognizing birthdays in heaven.
But I want to come back to the golf club -
it’s designed to train us to hit the sweet spot so that we have great shots.
We can find that sweet spot in life when we pay attention to the important things- the people and moments that matter and not let other things interfere.
Here’s to sweet shots and sweet memories,
Abbey
