There is nothing like a good game to take my mind off my isolation woes. Yes, reading is good, bingeing television, puzzles…they are all dependable forms of entertainment. But when I am reading or doing a puzzle, my fretting and worries can take over, immediately leading me to my phone to check messages and emails and the latest Covid updates in my community and the world beyond.
But with a game, a person has to think. How hard you think is a matter of how competitive you want to be, that is, using strategy to plan your next move. Or, even if you are not much of a strategist, you at least need to concentrate on whose turn it is.
Of course, now it is just my husband and I playing games. I have to say our supply of two person games is a little limited. Of course, there is Gin Rummy, and a few other games like Yahtzee and Racko. But I began to tire of these games pretty early on.
Now, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I have discovered the card game called “Spades”. I am proud to say that I taught us how to play that game (thank you, YouTube). Since neither of us has ever played it, we believe we are playing it right, and we believe we are actually quite good at it. In fact, once we emerge from our cave, we might find we are miserable at playing this game.
It’s like playing tennis against your little brother all summer, winning every game, and thinking you must be some kind of tennis hero. You sign up to play in an adults-only tennis league and quickly find out that not only are you not good, you don’t even understand all the rules.
No matter, we have fun, and will continue to tell ourselves we know what we’re doing.
A number of years ago, my sister and niece were excited to show me a game they had received from a friend. This friend taught them how to play it and they were eager to teach me. But the game just did not make sense. It seemed random and way too easy. So, I read the instructions and found out the “right way” to play it. I showed them. And I forever ruined that game for them. They liked “their way” of playing, and I had burst that bubble. As far as I know, they never played again, and I really am sorry about that.
I hope that doesn’t happen for our little game of Spades.
So, my joy for this week, is playing Spades with my beloved. And reveling in the joy that even though we might not be playing it well or even right, we are having a good time together.