Passion

My husband and the craftsman who would make his hickory stick golf clubs were animated as they talked about the order.

We had driven from one end of Switzerland to almost the other to meet the supplier.

Information about wood, lifts, shapes, metals fell from their lips along with how they had come to love the hickories more than the modern metal.

For Rick it was when he played Musselburgh in Edinburgh where he first encountered the clubs. Mary Queen of Scots had played there.

The craftsman went into the spirit of the game in yesteryear brought forward to today. He talked of the dress code of plus fours or plus twos, shirt, tie, better a bow tie. Long ties could hamper a swing, the craftsman said.

His face was radiant when he explained how he'd set up the business, finding the right wood, working around his regular profession, the techniques he used. He didn't consider any of it work. He even said often his wife would suggest he go work on an order. It wasn't about the money at all, it was about the creation.

Although I had to take golf lessons as a kid, as an unsporty person, golf is not my passion, although I learned a lot as I listened. Mostly I watched and enjoyed how much passion showed on their faces. To love how you spend time is a gift.

Some wives don't want their husbands spending so much time on the golf course--golf widows they are called. I support my husband's plans to try some hickory tournaments in different countries over the next few months, especially Scotland where I will go too. It makes him happy.

He supports my passions too. When I told him I didn't want a 75th birthday party but wanted to visit the tomb of Eleanor of Aquitaine, he arranged a tour of the abbey where her coffin rests along with Henry II's, one of her husbands, and her son's Richard the Lionhearted.

He smiled when I was thrilled to stand on the spot where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned in Stirling Castle in Scotland. As almost new born, it would be years before she too developed a passion for golf.

He will listen and learn about what I've discovered. In turn, I am grateful for my early golf training so I can share his excitement/pain when he tells me about bunkers, slices, rough, birdies and more.

It may be good that we have different passions. By listening to one another, we expand our awareness of things outside our normal vision range.