Wednesday Night Dinners

Otherwise known as.... GDA is in the HOUSE!

As Mom and I have settled back into cohabitating as we support each other through this infernal process that is grief, one part of our routine is particularly precious:  Wednesday night dinners.  It's the one night of the week-- so far-- that we can count on actually sitting down at the table together to eat a homemade meal and discuss the issues of the day.  GDA comes over as well, and we enjoy our party of three.

Each week after dinner we get a game out and start playing.  At first it was Farkle, then after our trip to Atlanta for Easter we played Hearts, and for the past two Wednesdays our game of choice has been Uno.  Last week... I cleaned up.  My opponents each won a game apiece, but other than that I was the Queen Uno player.  I didn't want to be a sore winner, but I was really enjoying the bloodbath.  Everybody likes to win, right?

Well, last night I got my comeuppance.  GDA won the first game, catching me Wild card in hand (we play for points) among other high-point cards.  Oh man.  In our second round, my mother kept giving me Draw Two and Draw Four cards, sorrowfully proclaiming,  

I'm sorry... I want to give them to him, but you are NEXT! 

Ahhhh... it's okay.  It's just a game.

Yeah, right. 

At the close of the third hand, GDA threw down his last card and declared, GDA IS IN THE HOUSE!!!  He was thrilled to be having such a great night.  It was actually really entertaining seeing him so happy to be kicking my butt.  My mom won a couple hands, but the closest I came to coming out on top was having one card that read 0 when the winner was named.

Uno is the perfect game for us for these four simple reasons:
1.  Uno only takes a few minutes (usually) to play each hand.
2.  Uno allows Mom and I to practice our Spanish.  (Amarillo, azul, verde, y rojo are the colors of the cards, and I practice counting as I deal, too.  (Uno, uno, uno... dos, dos, dos... and so on... up to siete.)
3.  Uno offers ample opportunity to express frustration in a healthy way.  Skip you!  Mom loves to throw her fist up and yell Callate!   (Pronounced ka-sha-tay in Argentinian Spanish.)
4.  Uno can be anybody's game.  Yes, there is some level of strategy involved, but it's definitely not as strategic as backgammon or even Farkle, which creates a more equitable playing field for our various levels of game-playing experience.

Even though last night Uno was definitely not my game, I was glad to be playing with Mom and GDA.  We drank hot tea (as we always do after our Wednesday night dinner), played Uno, laughed, and had fun with each other.  Which at this point, is a really, really good thing.

Life goes on.  Learning how to continue living after such a tremendous loss is a process, but life does go on.  I know Dad would want it that way.