Chopping the hamburger that is
sizzling in the pan, I hear the door open and my husband walks through, kicking
off his overshoes just inside the door. "Supper is ready" I mention
as I turn the burner on the stove down to low. Shawn washes up and the kids make
their way into the kitchen as I set the pan onto the potholder amid the taco
shells, lettuce and cheese in the center of the table. "Can we play cards
after supper?" Karissa asks and I smile with excitement awaiting a
"yes" response from the guys. We have been playing a lot of family
card games lately, as many nights as possible, and even weekend afternoons and
snow days. "Five Hundred" is
our current game of choice. We keep
score (mostly just to keep track of when we should finish) and we laugh and we
chat and we argue about who's turn it is to deal or about who gets mom for a
partner. (How come no one ever wants me
for a partner?)
We finish eating and quickly throw
the dirty dishes into the sink. (No time for doing dishes now ... we've got
cards to play!) I wipe off the counter as Shawn gathers the cards and the score
sheet, Karissa finishes the cookie she was eating, and Christian quickly
finishes a text to a friend. As Shawn begins dealing the cards, I remind
Christian to put his phone away and Karissa launches into a story that happened
in school that day. I ask her how her History Day project went while I begin to
assemble the cards in my hand. Shawn
gives me a nudge … "It's your bid,” he says. "Oh ... I pass," I state with a
smile. Okay, so we are ready to play
... Shawn and Karissa are trying for ‘Eight Clubs’. "We can set
them!" I tell Christian as I rearrange the Jack of Spades to its’ new,
prestigious spot next to a couple other small clubs I have in my hand. The
game begins as we toss in the ‘Joker’ and ‘bowers’ and smaller trump, all in
turn. Shawn and Karissa run the table
for the most part, but Christian and I manage to capture a couple tricks. Finally, it comes down to the wire, as we
each lay down our final cards, hoping to win the round ... Shawn has the
highest card and he takes the trick, banging his fist on the table as he lays
down his card with excitement...
And the sound takes me back ... Memories
flood my mind of myself as a small child, half asleep late at night, listening
to the sounds of my parents playing cards in the kitchen ... in my memory, I am
startled awake as one of their fists bangs onto the table as they lay the
ultimate good card. I also have memories of sitting under the kitchen
table with my brothers and my cousins, carefully sneaking cards from the piles
of tricks and pushing them up through the cracks in the center of the
table. (I don't think our parents were
too fond of that move!) Next my mind
wanders to memories of my late teen and young adult years when Shawn and I
would play cards on Sunday afternoons with my brothers and my parents. Again,
they would all argue about who got me for a partner ... I can't imagine why!
... "Kendra, it’s your turn!" I hear one of my brothers yell
...
"Mom, it's your deal," one
of my kids tells me as they shove the cards my way. Back in reality, I
pick up the deck and begin to shuffle. The cards bend and flutter
rhythmically as I shuffle the cards again and again. By sets of two, I begin to send the cards
around the table, then decide to deal them by threes, pausing to throw a few in
the ‘blind’. As Shawn and the kids begin
contemplating their cards, my mind wanders for a moment longer …
It’s
amazing how cards can cross generations and other barriers. My Grandma and Grandpa Einck are the King and
Queen of playing ‘Tic’ and love to talk others into playing a game or two; and
my Grandma Bohr was the Queen of anything that had to do with cards in her
day. One of my fondest memories of my
Dad is the time that he and I spent playing ‘Rummy’ on Monday mornings before I
would take off at noon for another week at UNI.
It is one of the few ways he and I spent uniquely father-daughter time.
As the
cards once again make their way around the table, I realize how much you can
learn about life from a game of cards. Some games are a matter of skill and
strategy and sometimes it’s a matter of knowing how to communicate and work
with a partner. Many times, it is just
the luck of the draw, the cards we are dealt, and sometimes there is nothing we
can do about how the cards may stack up.
At times, we may think we’ve got it made … we’ve got the high card … then
someone or something comes along and trumps our whole plan ... but that’s just
the way it goes! In life, like in cards,
we will win some and we will lose some.
But it doesn't really matter, for in the end, it is just about the fun
we had, the memories made, and the lessons learned while playing the game …
So anyway ...
“Is it my turn again?”
