Board Games

Originally Written Between 2016-2017                       

 

I believe we all grow up in two types of families:  Those who play cards and those who don’t.  I grew up in the “don’t” category.  Norm grew up in the “do” category.  We are proof that it is possible to co-exist for over 50 years in a “do” and a “don’t” family.  In fact, the first time I met Norm – he was playing poker.  February 1964.  There he was.  In the back of the ski bus.  Playing poker with his buddies.  Two things I noticed right away – his gorgeous head of hair.  So thick.  So brown.  And so wavy.  And… the fact that he had a great smile.  Plus, he was paying more attention to his card game than he was me!

 

Norm’s first impression of me was… and I quote:  “Mary was the brown-haired, flat-chested gal in the red sweater who didn’t know her ‘diggers from her clovers’.”  Well, I guess he did pay more attention to me than I thought.  

 

While we were dating, we stuck to playing board games with our friends.  You know – Monoply (which took way too long, I thought) – Parchessi (not very challenging – so I was pretty good at it) – and my most favorite of all – CLUE!  I love that game!  

 

I remember our friends, Tom and Mary Jo  Rogalski, would invite a few couples over to their home and we’d play Yahtzee.  My downfall.  This is where one quickly needed to know what a Full House, a Little Straight, and a Big Straight looked like.  Yes, I said, “Little and Big Straights.”  That’s what I called them.  Norm would create a “cheat sheet” for me and everyone would try to help.  But, playing cards just never clicked with me.

 

In fact, it took nine years of coaching before Norm would allow me to play 500 in public.  We were at our neighbor’s home and had enough people to have three games going on at one time.  Then we would switch partners.  I didn’t know that was part of the game!  Norm had always been my partner.  Now I had to play with a stranger?  One who was actually serious about the game?  One who would say “Six No” or “Six No Trump” when he actually had the “Joker?”  You know, I never understood that.  If everyone knows that if you say, “Six No Trump,” you have the “Joker,” why can’t you just say, “I have the Joker!”  Never made sense to me.  You probably can already guess that we were never invited back to play cards with our neighbors again.  Oh… I just thought of something:  Trump? Joker?  Now, it makes sense!

 

Remember “Ol’ Maid” and “Go to the Dump?”  My brother, Steve, and sister, Joanne, and I would play these games on rainy days or whenever Steve would be really bored and had nothing else to do.  Then, he would play with his sisters.  Anyway, Joanne had this idea in her head that she SHOULD never lose.  So, if she had the “Ol’ Maid,” she would simply place it in her lap or throw it under the table.  It didn’t take long before Steve and I would refuse to play with her.  

 

I don’t remember playing many games with my children when they were growing up.  They had each other and their neighborhood friends.  They didn’t need me.  Besides, I was too busy cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc. to actually find the time to play games with my kids.  Besides, Norm was the game and card player in our family!

 

So, naturally, Norm is the designated “fun” grandparent who reads stories, plays ball, does card and yo-yo tricks, goes golfing and to amusement parks, and plays games with our grandsons. Dean, Timmy, and Johan.  The one thing he does NOT do is this:  Norm never has and never will – cheat.  He’s taught them that “sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”  No matter how the game ends, you can’t be a sore loser or an insufferable winner.  It’s just a game.