hula hoops and hampster wheels

There were many adventures with my dad and he taught me so many things. But aside from the adventures there were just ordinary days.

My mom and dad were sitting at the kitchen table as I woke up to watch Saturday morning cartoons. They were drinking coffee, laughing and talking. Soon they were speaking in some sort of code, calling out numbers. I came out to see – and they were playing cards.

I loved to play games with my dad, but this is a game I had never played before. It was not Go Fish or War. There was a wooden board with a million holes in it, and a pair of green and blue pegs, I asked if I could play. My dad replied: “Do you want to win?” I nodded. “Well, we will be a team and try and beat your mom.”

We sat, side by side as the cards were shuffled and dealt. He said I might have to whisper so Mom couldn’t have any hints. The cards were top secret and so he carefully showed them to me and asked me “Can you add any of the numbers together to get 15?”
I pointed out a combination and he grouped together more. He told me we would have to give Mom two cards and asked which ones I thought were the least important. I picked the cards and the game started in play. 5. 10. 15-2. 25. 31 for 2 and a go makes 3. What were they talking about – the cards flew out of their hands so fast. I was frustrated – so they showed me what the numbers meant as I counted points off on the board. Dad said I’d have to watch a couple times to learn all the rules and how to play – but as I’m watching I could be on his team.

Soon we would play cribbage on our own and he would always win – he said it wasn’t going to help me learn if he just threw the game. For the first few times I’d beat him – he’d say in his teasing way “Congratulations Pumpkin, but you know- I let you win.”



Not too long ago, we resumed our cribbage sessions in our assigned seats at the kitchen table – the same spots for twenty years. “Peggty peg peg” is what he’d chant at me when he was getting close to winning the game. When he would win, he would brag a little, on the rare occasion that I skunked him he would look at me, smile and say: “I’m ready are you?” and we would play again as we would talk and laugh.





Kristen – May 2008