Let The Games Begin

It's all about winning.  I may have mentioned my family is competitive.  It's in our DNA, passed down through my parents' genes, more from my mother, but my dad had his moments, too.  It could have been something as simple as finding a new word and challenging the other to spell it.  Mother beat Daddy with asaphoetida, and never let him forget it.  Most of their friends were poker players, while the aunts and uncles on my dad's side played dominoes; in particular, a game called Forty-Two.  Through the magic of the internet, I just found out that the game originated in Texas (Daddy's birthplace), and how to play.  I may have to look into that.  In the evenings at home, we played a lot of board games, Parcheesi being the favorite.  One time my mother and I were playing Tiddlywinks.  It wasn't going well for her and she kept losing.  I was just a little girl, but she wouldn't let me go to bed until she won a game and that wasn't until well after midnight!  We also played a lot of jacks.

Mother played a lot of fast and furious double-solitaire, probably the first card game I learned.  There was no quarter given.  My sister was pretty good at it, too.  Pat had seven children, and as they got old enough, Mother would teach them the game and play with them until they got good enough to beat her, then she'd take on the next oldest.  With Mother, it was always about winning.

My Kids could never avoid competition.  Their dad was an inveterate card player; poker, of course, but also pinochle.  My mother and his didn't speak for years until we invited them both to our house to play pinochle, and they overcame their differences for a monthly game.

This may explain why, when the Kids get together, the cards and chips come out and the table is cleared.  Let the games begin!