There aren’t many things that bring people together more than having a common interest. This is especially true for bowling. Bowling has given me the opportunity to make great friends that will last a lifetime.
I have lived in four different states in my life. I’m turning 30 this year. It wasn’t until I moved to college that I left New York for Florida. So in the last 12 years, I have moved 4 times. Along the way, I have made great friends. I have met many of them through the bowling leagues I have participated in while traveling in this great country of ours.
Bowling has been an influence in my life since I was about three years old. Most people can’t say the same. Lots of people pick it up later in life. All my friends in high school played baseball, basketball, or soccer. I was on the bowling team. Because of this, I tended to be friends with the kind of people most people my age aren’t friends with, or would never be friends with.
This has been a great blessing, because these friendships have gotten me through some of the hardest parts of my life. They have also been part of some of the best moments of my life. I am very lucky to say this.
Bowling has given me friendships that some may call unusual. Every year, twice a year, I travel to Las Vegas with some of my friends that I met in a bowling league while living in Florida. There is usually a group of 5-10 of us. I am the only one who is under 60 years old.
I recently moved to Chicago. In my bowling league in Scottsdale, Arizona, which I was a part of for the few years I lived there, I had another group of guys that I quickly became friends with. All these guys were retired. Not the typical group that a guy in his early 30s would hang out with, but they are a great group of guys that I shared a common bond with.
Even after moving to so many different places, the one thing that has been a constant in my life has been bowling. I know that no matter where I move to, I can go bowling and find a good group of people with whom I share a common interest and develop lifelong friendships.
