Yesterday was family fun time in Basil’s kindergarten class. It fell to me to represent the family. Basil seemed thrilled. I, less than. Not that I minded being with him. That I love, always. All five Grands have grown up hearing me sing, “I get enough of a lot of things but I never get enough of you!”
It was the thought of sitting on the floor or in one of those tiny chairs, that made me feel less like the winner of the family lottery.
Thursday, as Bazy and I rode together in the car, I asked him what game he wanted to play when I came to his school on Friday.
” Chicken Scratch?” ( Thought this one for sure, since he usually beats me at dominoes.)
“Nope!”
“How about Apples to Apples?”
“Not that one.”(We’d played it with Luke in the car on the way to the Red Sox/Giants game on Wednesday night.)
“Well, which one are we going to play, Basil?” (No way was I going to suggest Candyland.)
” I chose Life!”
“Life? I’m not sure I know that game?”
“Momo, how can you not know about Life?”(I am 76.)
“Good question,” thought I.
This morning as I sat low with Basil and one of his classmates, the game of Life slowly emerged from the tattered box. Vast sums of play money, small plastic cars, cards to instruct, each being meticulously sorted and stacked by the little girl who’d joined our family. The attention to detail by his classmate, frustrated Basil and fascinated me.
After a while, Basil exclaimed,” We can’t keep organizing. We’ve got to start or we’ll run out of time for Life.”(So much for all my lists.)
Soon Lily(High School year ended yesterday) with two of her friends, Shannon and Stella, surprised Basil and joined the game. After a while, several of Basil’s classmates swapped their family for ours. Must’ve been our unmuzzled enthusiasm or that we’d gone overtime and were the only game in town, so to speak.
Who’d a thought a mandatory morning of family fun with kindergarten kids could take me back to basics.
Maybe it starts with being willing to sit down in a tiny chair or on the floor and worry less about how I’m going to get back up.
Life.
So worth doing
no matter how low you have to go to get back to basics.
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Hi Jan,
There is a reason I no longer kneel to pray! The nice thing about grands is they think we are smart when we finally are.
Blessings,
Dale