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I don't know a thing about the game of golf, and I really don't want to. So, please don't waste your precious time writing, calling or emailing to teach me golf 101.

When I came to work at the Pahrump Valley Times, Rich Thurlow, the owner and editor of the Times, came into my office one day, happy as a lark. He had just finished a round of golf. Obviously, golf was good for Rich, therapeutic, enjoyable and soul cleansing.

He said in a happy, elated way that he had hit a birdie on hole (whatever) and another one on hole (whatever). His attitude reflected that this was a good thing. My first thought was, did you kill them? My second thought was, man you must be good, to hit a bird with a little white ball when I can't hit one with a 12-gauge.

I told him I was happy he had a great time and did well. Golf to Rich was a physical and mental escape, a recharge or realignment of his circuits, a passion.

I am sharing this story to remind all of you to give in to your passions and enjoyments whenever you can. A good brain fade, getting out of self, is cleansing to your soul and helps you get back on track to face your day-to-day issues and problems, your reality of life.

Take it easy on yourself, stop and smell the roses or the mesquite trees. Do something to rid your brain of all the garbage it has collected, get the junk out of your trunk. In these trying times, this is really important; you need to make time to do what makes you happy.

Read a book, take a walk or hot bath, watch an old movie -- whatever you find pleasure doing, do it, and do it as often as you can as long as it's not against the law.

Life has a tendency to keep "lifeing" us. You are your own keeper. It is up to you to take care of yourself so you can take care of your responsibilities and face your daily challenges.

My dad, a wise and knowledgeable man, keeps reminding me, "Don't spend so much time making a living that you forget to make a life."

I have an adventurous soul, I like spontaneity. Somewhere along the line I forgot to make "making a life" a priority. With all the hustle and bustle, the good and the bad, the day-to-day drudgery, the inability to recover from one project before the start of another, the curve ball that comes at you from out of nowhere, I simply forgot to have fun, to do things I enjoy. I got so wrapped up in the minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day demands and responsibilities.

Have you ever made a trip to Shoshone, Calif.? I mean an actual trip where Shoshone was your destination, not just a drive-by? Tom and I decided to take a ride to Shoshone last Saturday. Spontaneity and adventure were the much needed plan for the day. We both needed a break and Shoshone was the ticket.

The drive out on Highway 372 is trouble free and has little traffic, a quiet and pleasurable drive, which allowed us basically uninterrupted conversation. When we arrived in Shoshone, we had to go eat at the Crowbar Cafe. We had heard about the Crowbar for years yet had never been there.

We had a wonderful meal and noticed vacationers from all over the map stopping in to have lunch and a cold drink before they continued their travels.

The museum next door, which we discovered on our arrival at the Crowbar, attracted our attention. We are both history nuts and enjoy spending time finding out about the folks that founded or played a part in creating the town we are visiting.

The curator of the museum was an extremely nice and knowledgeable gal that lives in Pahrump. She was fun to talk with and we learned all kinds of interesting facts from her. I think we spent about two hours walking around and then walking around again in case we missed something the first time. We enjoyed the old photos, the descriptions of different discoveries in the area, the men and women that came to the area to prospect. Holy cow, what a stout bunch they were!

Many of the photos and stories were of folks I have discussed or made reference to when I do my weekly Back Then column in the Times. It was neat to see all the facts and understand what brought these people to the area and what kept many of them there.

The last adventure I made was in April, a long awaited and often postponed trip to Tombstone, Ariz. Tom and I, along with Tom's mom and dad from Buffalo, N.Y., and our dear friends Holly and Jose, embarked on a memory making adventure.

When we arrived in Tombstone, it was like taking a trip back in time. The legendary Boothill graveyard/cemetery captured our attention as we stopped at nearly every gravesite to read the headstones.

We were like a bunch of kids again, places to go, things to see and not much time to take in all the attractions. We went to the Bird Cage Theater, an interesting but odd place, and of course to the OK Corral. We stayed and watched the reenactment of the famous shootout at the OK Corral.

On our last night in Tombstone, while walking into the hotel after a long, wonderful, fun-filled day, I told Jose, "I was born in the desert and I will probably die in the desert." He looked at me and said, "Yea! But it's the dash in between that really matters." He's right.

We left the next morning for Pahrump. On the way home we stopped for brunch at my dad's house in Mesa. We had a great meal and a few hours to visit with my family, then back on the road to head home.

Remember, take it easy on yourself, do what you enjoy as often as you can because it is the "dash in between that matters."