I wish I could get the scanner to work. My oldest daughter drew a card for me that sums up this happy story better than any thing I could write.

She drew a picture of me smiling with her next to me smiling. She said it wasn’t one of her better drawings (she won a statewide art contest last year when she was 7), but it’s a keeper for me.

The two of us are at the end of a bowling alley. The pins are scattered and airborne from a bowling ball hitting them.
She did get one thing wrong in the drawing. She has a big black bowling ball, complete with three finger holes, when what we did was duckpin bowling.

For those unfamiliar with duckpin bowling, it’s played on the same lanes as the regular bowling with the same pins.

But the balls are much smaller, not much bigger really than what you’d play croquet with (if anyone actually played croquet. My experience at croquet is more like that depicted in Calvin and Hobbes).

You roll three balls and keep score roughly the same way as bowling (you have to pick up a spare with the first two balls).

My two oldest daughters belong to a local version of the Girl Scouts. The group organized a father-daughter day at Pikeside Bowling.

My 8 year old has bowled before, but it’s been ages ago. My 5 year old hadn’t. But they were both very excited about it.

The father of one of the girls, Mary, who had stayed at our house for a birthday slumber party, invited us over to their lane.

When children play, the rails are raised to keep the balls from going straight into the gutter.

I showed the two how to pull the ball back and release it. The oldest got the idea quickly, but the younger had a little more difficulty.

Although I could tell the other father wanted to be more competitive, I was having none of it.

Whether they knocked all 10 pins down or missed all of them, I praised them for whatever they had done right.

And it’s surprising how well you can do when you have the rails up. The 5 year old would roll the ball and it would proceed s  l  o  w  l  y down the lane, bouncing off one rail, then the other and just when you think the ball had lost all momentum and was not going to make it to the pins, it would hit one and topple it onto five others. She’d watch the ball lying on her belly on the floor, her elbows propping her up and her eyes sparkling brightly. She’d beam as the balls would fall and get her next ball.

One time she released her second ball before the first had hit the pins. As soon as the first ball hit, I hit the “sweep” button to clear the fallen pins and reset the pins back down. The pins were back in place before the second ball reached them.

And my 8 year old would encourage her too, just as the 5 year old cheered her sister.

The other dad quit trying to make it a serious game and got into the spirit of it (I think). In any event, we had a lot of fun.

My oldest said her favorite part was when she picked up a spare.

My 5 year old said her favorite part were the French fries I bought from the concession stand. They were thick and hot and yummy.

My favorite part was all of it, but if I had to pick one thing it’s the card. It’s a keeper.

That’s my happy story for tonight. Your story can be about anything you want it to be.