Not Keeping Score

     It's the last day of summer and the world is our oyster. The boys have just gotten back from a week's stay with my mother.  During this past week I've worked almost-non-stop in my classroom because my earlier attempts to get work done with both children in the room resulted in blueberries crushed in the carpet and a sea of marbles rolling around under all the bookcases and desks.  At any rate, we've had our summer camping trips, a day at the zoo, play dates, museums, family picnics, summer blow-out BBQ party, science classes, swim lessons, lazy pool days, lazy backyard days, lazy television days, etc...  So what was left on the to-do list?
     Well, first it was haircuts because the children hadn't been snipped since June and they were looking like mangy dogs (cute mangy dogs, but still).  After their trims, we ambled over to the pet store to look at ferrets.  It was still early and the boys insisted on mini-golf as an end-of-summer activity.  I used my BOGO admission coupon and we were on our way with golf clubs in hand.  I even avoided the bounce houses, bumper boats, playland, super slide, rock climbing wall, batting cage and go-carts all of which cost an extra $4-6. 
     We grabbed our clubs and balls and headed over to the first hole, which is when I realized I hadn't grabbed a score card.  Why keep score anyway?  I'm not sure who the winner would be between Joshua, Liam and I.  At any rate, without keeping score we weren't bothered when Joshua picked up his ball after the first swing and plopped it into the hole.  Nor did it matter when Liam decided to just throw his ball into the alligator's mouth so it could roll directly into the hole.  We giggled when we knocked the ball into the stream and could care less when it rolled back to the tee.

     The boys played on a pirate ship and tried to figure out which track led to the hole. They ran under the sprinklers giggling and we all had a blast... until Joshua tripped on an average sidewalk and his knee began gushing blood.  We threw the balls into the final pirate ship and headed to the bathroom. It seemed there were no paper towels in the bathroom, only driers and toilet paper wasn't going to cut it.  I carried a pitiful, whimpering Joshua back to the car.
     Then I saw the diaper bag and figured, why not?  I poured water onto an opened up Pull-Up and put pressure on his wound.  Okay, so the blood slowed down its gushing but how long would we be staying there waiting with him sitting on the hood of my car and Liam standing in the parking lot?  I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to drive one handed, with the other hand keeping pressure on his knee...  what to do?
     And that's what brothers are for.  We scooted Liam's booster seat into the middle, next to Joshua's and buckled them both in.  I positioned the diaper back over Joshy's knee and Liam placed his small hand down on top of it.  And that's how we drove home.
    "I think that was my favorite time we've ever gone mini-golfing," I called back to Liam.
     Liam said "What?  That wasn't good at all!" 
     "Right," I said, "it was my favorite time mini-golfing until Joshua fell and hurt his knee."
     And we didn't talk about who won and who lost on the way home.  Instead we giggled about how far off the green we shot and how we never found Liam's ball that rolled into that pipe...  and as we pulled onto the highway, and I looked back in the rear view mirror to see Liam next to his little brother, holding on his make-shift silly bandage it made me realize how much we had all won this morning (despite a scrape on the knee)... even though we didn't keep score.