Today is Mother’s Day, so I dedicate this post to my mom. She’s the reason why I’m the bowler I am after all.

You see, back in the day, my mom was the premier ladies bowler in her league. It was the Pocono league, and she may have been bowling at Jersey Lanes. Without fail, she earned all the awards for top performing woman each year: high game, high series, and high average. She’d gather her trophies at the annual awards banquet and cart then home just to store them in our garage beside our softball team equipment (she was the coach). At the time, I couldn’t appreciate what an excellent and supremely impressive bowler she was because I didn’t fully understand just how hard bowling is, like I do now.

My mom’s high game is a 264, a culmination of eight strikes in a row, which is something I’m not sure I could ever do.

So, it is fitting that today, on Mother’s Day, I would take her bowling with me and proceed to bowl my highest game ever: a 210. She told me watching me bowl today was the best gift I could give her.

You may be wondering how I pulled it off. Put simply, I focused. More than I ever have before.

There was a man two lanes to our left who may have been mentally disturbed. Every time he threw the ball, he’d call out, “Strike!” Like, even when he was on his second throw. (Note: He rarely read his throws correctly, so he wasn’t even getting a spare when he yelled strike.) Throughout my game, I’d allow him to bowl (and subsequently scream) before I’d prepare for my approach. This way, I wouldn’t be interrupted by his errant utterances. To my surprise, my methodical ability to tune out his disturbances worked perfectly.

My newfound focus is something I’ll carry with me and attempt to recreate next time I go bowling. But, for now, check out my nearly clean 210 game below. It made my mom’s day, and for that I am grateful.