I never did get to finish telling about our
pre-Easter extravaganza of grandchildren.
At some point, for some unknown reason, Chris and I found ourselves
alone … with a batch of grandkids, of course.
I think it must have been date night.
We were being schooled in the fine art of non-video–oriented game-playing,
and that doesn’t just mean CandyLand or Operation. Not these kids. Chris and Micah and Jachin played a game of
Nuts. That’s a card game known by many
names, but it is essentially Multi-solitaire.
As many people as have decks of cards play a miniaturized version of
solitaire in front of them, but anytime an Ace is played, any of the rest of the
players can play on it as well. It can
get pretty wild and crazy, especially if you have some hyper-competitive
first-borns involved in the game.
Earlier that afternoon, in fact, we played a game where Nathan (baby if the
family) and me (forgotten middle child) were matched up against Kel, Christina,
April, and Chris … all “competitive” first-borns. It was kind of fun for us to watch the others
go toe to toe while we quietly racked up point after point. As it turned out, Nathan and I tied for first
place. The others did a masterful job of
hiding their massive disappointment, though.
They showed fine character and only accused us of cheating six or eight
times. As I said, great game. So while that was happening on one end of the
table, five-year-old Josiah was teaching me a card game called Egyptian Rat
Killer. I have no idea as to the etymology
of the title. All I do know is that the
little rat killer sitting across from me completely cleaned me out of cards,
then coolly told me to count the number of cards I had left, and that would be
my score. Ouch.
We did get a bit more rambunctious than
that, however. There was the rousing
game of hide and seek that we played outside.
That’s when I learned that I was missing out on one of the key chants of
childhood. I had never heard it
before. It goes something like, “One,
two, three, base is on me.” I think
there was more to it than that, but it gave you permission to leave home base
once you successfully touched in.
Without the chant you are fair game for “It” to nail you. Now you tell me.
My personal favorite of the evening,
though, had to be the one we played in our kitchen: Quidditch (sans flying
broomsticks). Hope there are some Harry
Potter fans still around who understand the reference. Basically, there was a game of soccer going on,
and I had control of a small rubber ball – the snitch. I would toss it across the room and bounce it
off the wall at random intervals. If the
seeker of either team intercepted it, they automatically won the round. Meanwhile, the soccer game provided opportunity
for even more points. Fascinating game,
that Quidditch.
Isaiah
11:8-9 says, “The infant will
play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the
viper's nest. They will neither harm nor
destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover the
sea.”
Father, thank you again for the storehouse
of creativity you insert into the minds of young children. Amen.
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