April 23, 2006


  • My next door neighbor is another single mom with a son the same age as Michael.  Tonight, she had to work so I played hostess to all three boys and we played The Game of Life.  It was really interesting to see how the boys reacted.  All three of them were happy about getting married.  They were ambivalent about buying a house and Tucker was downright angry that he didn't have a choice about how much he spent on it ("For the amount of money they want me to pay!  No Way!  I'm gonna live in a trailer," he says.)


    Michael was thrilled that he kept landing on the spaces to have kids and quickly filled his car to overflowing with little boys and girls.  The neighbor kid, Joey, just kept chortling, praying, scheming and gloating when it worked out that he was able to steal Tucker's salary card.  Me?  I bought insurance, and stock, had no kids, and only married because the game made me. 


    As it got close to the end and Michael was convinced that he couldn't win, he wanted to quit.  I told him that he had to finish what he'd started and he did hang in there.  Then later he said to me in a punny sort of way, "I guess you're the kind of Mom who won't let her kid give up on LIFE." 


    It was a close game.  And in the end, it may not matter as much who won as what we learned playing the game with each other.  I love my boys.  I'm so glad they are sharing my journey through this life. 


    ********


    I also had a conversation with their dad this afternoon that was one of the more enjoyable we've had recently.  We talked about Michael's recent science fair project for which his dad had to purchase a hamster.  The project is over, Michael got a 'B' and his dad is stuck cleaning the hamster's cage because the hamster stayed with him in St. Louis when the boys came home after their Spring Break there. 


    Turns out this is the bitingest hamster known to man. 


    Tim mentioned that he is thinking that if he (the hamster) should pass away, it could probably be stuffed and displayed in the cage like an old-fashioned museum exhibit.  He speculates that since the thing is barely bigger than a pencil eraser any taxidermist charging more than a buck fifty should be ashamed of himself.  And maybe the kids wouldn't even notice.


    I'm still laughing.


    So that's my  today.  I hope yours is going well. 


Comments (10)

  • Wow, your layout is so beautiful! <3 Did you make it?

    And for a comment on the content xP: I love LIFE, both the game and life itself.

  • I have never played that game, and from your description of the forced choices, I think it might not be much fun for me. Real life is very pleasant right now.

  • I haven't played that game, either. When the kids are over at their dad's on the weekend, they always have Game Night on Saturday. I wish we could do it here. But I don't really know what games are good/fun for 7-8-year-olds?

  • Well, as I said before, eets so preety! ^^

    A reason as to why I didn't exactly elaborate on that one post was because the only people who really read my Xanga are my friends, and they know everything about me. *shrug*

    To make a long story short, I was depressed, and I'm not anymore, so I was kinda confused as to why it felt so easy to just give up. Then I read this post on Life and it made me laugh.

    Not to mention that I just HAD to comment on the layout ;)

  • Sometimes I look at life as a game, sometimes I don't.  I think that's best, looking at life from both sides now, like the song goes.

  • That's funny in a warped sort of way.   Hey...we might wanna do lunch again sometime over the next few weeks...'cuz I may have surgery soon and then well...I'll be the cheapest date you ever had!

  • I loved playing LIFE, and now that I have a real one, I'm not a playa-lol!

  • Some of my best memories of my youth are playing games with my sisters and my brother.. We always had a great time! Great post :)

    Blessings, ~Helena

  • WTG, wonderful Momi! You certainly do love your kids, and it shows in every post where they figure. The next time we bring our crews together, we need to play Life. I'm very curious about how my two would react to the kids/house/etc stuff (we're more a Monopoly family ourselves).

    I confess I'm still puzzling about the hamster. 'Not much bigger than a pencil eraser'......either I'm missing something, or that hamster was a mega-puny model!

  • Great post.  The kids did learn something it seems. You are a good Mom, Judi

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