My Best Friend

My best friend from childhood still lives in Dubai and her daughter has become my daughter's best friend. My best friend from high school was from the other side of the political divide but friendship prevailed.


At the prime age of 40, I have a beautiful best friend that calls me a freak! Best friendship is a chemical reaction. It is spontaneous and natural: it entails sharing one's funniest thoughts and sometimes the saddest, via blackberry messages.


But this post isn't about human friendships. It is about two sports activities that have become my obsession: weight lifting and playing golf. I have therefore called two pieces of equipment my best friends.


The first one is the Pitch club. Its an iron with a capital P engraved on the side of its face. Its my club of preference when on the par 3. I have adopted it and befriended it and practiced with it. I have introduced it to my son. Told him "master" players only use it. We have seen Tiger Woods use it in instances when we pick our n.5 or even our wood.


The other piece of equipment I have elected as my best friend is the Olympic bar at the gym. I want to use it for everything: bench press, dead lift and other exercises like the one I have called gondola which consists of swinging it from the floor upwards as if I were a gondollier. Perhaps its more convential to call this exercise "wood cutting".


For those children, cousins, siblings or spouse who think they should have double roles and be considered as my best friend....don't worry, you are competing with two pieces of steel equipment: a golf club called pitch and an Olympic bar at the gym.