Remember that board game called "The Game of Life", where you had to pick a little car that was either blue or pink, fill it with a partner and some little pink or blue children in the backseat, and head out on a journey called "Life"? The journey was filled with all kinds of ups and downs, backwards and forwards (depending on the spaces you landed on). I can't seem to remember what the conclusion of the game was, or how you won. Which means it must have really been about the journey (how nice).
I played this game a lot growing up. I remember liking it. I don't think I ever attached any significance to this game - I thought it was just a game. You know- something fun to play on a rainy day.
For some strange reason, I've been thinking about it - the board game - again lately. I'll find myself in a situation where, for example, my neighbour rings my doorbell and says, "Hi, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but someone just smashed into your car out front and then drove away", and in my head, I hear, "Car smashed. Go back 3 spaces". Then the next day, I'm walking down the street, and someone, out of the blue, hands me a Tim Horton's gift card, and as I smile to the world, my brain says: "Free coffee. Move up 2 spaces" (I don't even like Tim Horton's coffee, but in the Game of Life, that is totally irrelevant).
It works for lots of things in my life. The kids getting sick (3 steps back); Max losing his first tooth (4 steps forward); Ben learning to walk - and run, and climb (3 steps forward); getting a flat tire (2 steps backward); finding myself a new passion/obsession (sewing- 5 steps forward); Someone spilling their milk (1 step backward); planning a trip to Italy (without the kids! - 17 steps forward!); shattering the glass on my iphone (doh! 4 steps backward); and going back to "regular" work a few days a week (though I still can't decide if that's 3 steps forward or 2 steps back). It seems like everything that happens to me could fit nicely on a little playing card.
Ok, well maybe not everything. The other night Ben puked up at least 3 cups worth of his dinner/bottle right onto my chest (I was still wearing my "work clothes" and a really nice new pink bra). You can't find a card that says that in the Game of Life! Nor do they have cards that say, "Bad morning: Your four year-old dumped out his cereal, ground it into a million pieces on the floor with his shoes, and then squeezed out an entire tube of toothpaste on top". What would that be - like 700 steps back? Come to think of it, much of what Sam does wouldn't fit on a little playing card (but then, would I really want it to?).
Of course, I recognize that what is happening right now in Japan and Libya - and many other disaster, war, and poverty stricken places - could not fit on playing cards, either. It sure saddens me to think that for the children in those countries, these events are very much a part of their "Game of Life" right now. They don't have the luxury of thinking about the inconvenience of flat tires and spilled milk. Their life is not like a game at all.
So once again, I am left to ponder how lucky I am in so many ways. And though I sometimes feel like a hamster on a wheel, running running running around and around, if I can only stop every now again to really look at my little pink car and the lovely people who are on this journey called Life alongside me, I will see what incredible cards I have been dealt in this game called Life. And for that, I am thank-full.
A few recent pics of the kids, since it's been a while :)
This is Ben's cheeky face...he has officially turned into a "third child", and has figured out that to be heard in this family, you must scream and screech and yell until someone gives you what you want. So of course he gets what he wants quite quickly these days :) Smart boy.
Max finally lost his first tooth a little while ago, and here's the little tooth pillow we made together for the occasion. Did you know that the tooth fairy in these parts pays $6 a tooth? That's some serious inflation from the quarter I used to get, don't you think??
I'm going to try to be in this space more in the next weeks and months, so check back again soon!
Have a happy Tuesday.
xx s
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