I spent this past weekend recovering from our last college drop-off. You would think the experience of having done this a few times before would make it easier, but it doesn’t. There’s a certain emptiness when you return home after finishing the drop-off. Sure, there’s the missing physical presence around the house, but it’s a lot more than that.

When you are in the arena, in the middle of the battle, in the thick of life, it seems as though time stands still. It feels like the day will never end, that tomorrow will never come. You fret. You worry. You waste precious time.

Yet, when you elevate and look at the big picture, you see just how small those past problems were in the bigger picture of life. Instead of living in the present and enjoying the moment, our human nature is to complain and wish for things to be different, whether it’s to be somewhere else, to be with someone else, or to just be someone else. Instead of embracing who we are, where we are, who we are with, and what we are doing, we ruin the moment by chasing that which isn’t real. We rob ourselves of making memories that will last a lifetime.

I can’t take credit for the title of this post, that goes to Gretchen Rubin. But no truer words have been written. I have seen them play out in my own life. I’ve seen them play out in Lisa’s, my children’s, my mother’s, and my friend’s lives. And if there is one thing I know for certain, I know they will continue to play out in all of our lives.

I recently had the opportunity to take a once-in-a-lifetime golf trip. I got to play four incredible golf courses on the Monterey Peninsula – Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay, and Poppy Hills. It wouldn’t have been possible without the help and efforts of the Southern California Golf Association, for which I am very grateful.

I wrote about the overall trip previously. This post is going to focus on my rating of the courses that I was fortunate enough to get to play.

Thanks to an SCGA Member Outing, Brad and I had the opportunity to enjoy some high quality golf on the Monterey Peninsula over the Fourth of July weekend. It was an incredible trip. The golf surpassed expectations. Even better, I got to spend some quality time with Brad both on and off the golf course.