And up to this point, Daughter 2 has had only the best of teachers! For PreK, she had Mrs. F, who has become a very good friend of mine and not just because we commiserated over the antics of Daughter 2. For kindergarten she had my good-garage-salin'-friend-and-sometimes-wife, Dawn. For first grade she had my good-friend-turned-beach-bum, FloJo. And now for second grade, she has Mrs. R. All of these teachers are world-class, top-notch, award-winning teachers. They all impressed upon Daughter 2 the importance of reading.
And for their fine instruction, which has produced a brilliant reader, I'd like for them to all come and play The Game of Life with the little killjoy.
It was just last Christmas (when Daughter 2 was reading well enough that she didn't feel the need to read anything that she didn't want to read) that The Dad gave her The Game of Life. This little game has brought Daughter 2 hours of enjoyment as she raced around giving me anxiety beyond any bottle of sangria I've ever drank!
But then...
She read the directions.
Prior to last Christmas, I had played The Game Of Life when I was in middle school and my little sister got it for Christmas one year. I played it by my own rules and spun the spinner in such a way that it would skim across the board, knocking cars and stick people hither and yon. This frustrated my little sister to no end. That is the sole reason I played the game at that time in my life.
So, last Christmas when we sat down as a family to play it, and The Dad admitted he had never played the game, I just sort of, kind of, made up the rules as I went along. Want to buy a long-term investment? Sure! Give the bank some of your blue money and it's yours! Want to skip over the lawsuit? Sure! It doesn't count against your spinner total! Halfway through our first official game of life, The Dad asked me if I was sure I knew what I was doing (he's such a sore loser) and I threw the 28-page rule booklet at him and said, "You wanna read the rules, Mr. Goody-Goody?" and he decided that my way was just fine.
I love when he does that!
Because I impressed on the family the importance of my rules, we've never had an issue playing the game. Until today.
Today, Daughter 2 asked if I wanted to "really play" The Game of Life. I thought she meant "really" because sometimes, if she spins an odd or even number for her first spin, then the Momma of the game gets to read a book while everyone else plays. What? If it's not in the rule book, that just means a Dad wrote the rules! I told her I love to "really play".
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| Welcome to Day 2 of The Game of Life! |
Wait one minute. I was having flashbacks! I was looking at Daughter 2, but I was hearing my little sister, Lanie (a nickname that she hated so it stuck) trying to get me to play the game correctly - whatever that means!
"And, Momma," the little bossy rule-follower continued, "You can only have one long-term investment at a time. And the money goes to the bank. Not to you, FYI."
"Well," I countered, "That's not the official rule, FYI."
"Uh-huh, Momma. Lanie said..."
"OK, baby girl," I interrupted, "Lanie does NOT know the rules. She thinks she does, but it's been at least 40 years since she's played this game. So, if she tells you any rules, then they are wrong. She's getting old and her memory is shakey at best." There. That should settle it.
"What Lanie said was that I could read the rules on my own! So, I did. All the pages even! By myself!" And with that, she pulled out the rule book and began quoting statutes and addendums and within a matter of a sneeze, my simple, 30-minute, Game of Life became an all-afternoon and well-into-the-evening event!
So, I'd like to publicly thank all of Daughter 2's teachers for teaching my baby how to be a freakin' genius, and I'd like to thank my sister for teaching her to be a rule-follower.
For Christmas, my niece is getting drums.
