It all started with puzzles.
Tragedy* and I were here, locked down, with not much to do. Out came the 500 piecer. We finished it pretty quickly then tackled one with a thousand pieces. Then another. The more puzzles we did, the more fun we had doing them together.
We also got out the playing cards.
When Sonny Boy was home, the three of us played hours and hours of Gin Rummy. Then, when Sonny went back to college, I taught Tragedy how to play Kings on the Corner. That’s a game that’s great for two people, and Granny and I used to play it when I spent the night with her. Granny was a sure ‘nuff card shark. Bridge was her main game, but she’d play easier games with me since I was a kid. She’d never let me win though. I had to earn it!
Then it was Legos.
It all started on a Target run to pick up some essentials. Now I don’t know about y’all, but on the rare occasion I go shopping, I walk up and down every aisle and look at everything. I was drawn in by the prospect of a board game, then by Matchbox cars — not that I play with or collect them, but they’re so cute and shiny. That’s how I came to be on the Lego aisle. And that’s how I came home with Hagrid’s Hut to be made out of a gazillion tiny blocks.
(Trans friends, I admit and acknowledge that J.K. Rowling is a terrible person, and I absolutely do not condone in any way, shape, or form her despicable transphobic behavior. Or anyone else’s for that matter.)
Tragedy and I put that together pretty quick, so on our next trip we came home with Kings Cross Station which is complete with the Hogwart’s Express. That one finished and on the shelf, we have Hogwart’s Great Hall waiting in the wings.
As a side note, if you haven’t put together one of Legos’ huge projects with a kid or grandkid, they are an engineering miracle! How they thought to create something like Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon out of tiny, plastic blocks is beyond me.
All these pursuits, especially the block building, are things that Tragedy and I had done as children, but not much as adults. With television, streaming services, iPhones, laptops, and social media, we’d forgotten how much fun it is to put on a record and just play!
That’s why the thirteenth lesson I’ve learned during 2020 is that whether it’s puzzles, cards, blocks, or something else you enjoy, it’s important to make time to play. You’ll find yourself lapsing into that oblivious state of contentment you may have experienced as a child. And just for a little while, you just might forget what a helluva year it’s been.
*Tragedy is what I call my beloved husband because of his resting sad face as compared to my mule-eating-briars grin.
(This year for #BlogLikeCrazy, I’m talking about 30 lessons I’ve learned in 2020. Read the other entries here).
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