Yep ... That's Life

If you have visited this blog before, you know that we live in a busy house.  Between girls practicing cartwheels, boys re-inacting Clone Wars battle scenes and kids running, leaping and wrestling, our home is literally thumping with life.  There is always something going on somewhere:  games, puzzles, videos, chores, tea parties ... you name it, we have it.

Just the other night, we were all around the table doing life in our own way.  Aaron was balancing on the back legs of his chair (Four on the floor, Dude!), Norah was cracking jokes and talking in her squawky-talky voice (Makes my head hurt, Sweetie!), Ashley was standing on her chair so she could be in the action (Bottom or knees, Missy!), Lydia was stretching across the table on her belly trying to get her hands on some contraband (Not for you, Weeda, sorry.) and Brett and I were trying to keep ahead of the chaos and have a little order.

Now imagine all these players ... and imagine in the middle of all this craziness ... the game of "Life".  Tired yet?

As the game progressed, it was interesting to see the individual personalities come out in each of us.  Maybe a few snapshots of our real life down the road.

Brett played "banker" and did a great job of keeping up with the kids and all their money needs.  Bills passed back and forth from player to banker and back again.  I can just imagine him in a couple of years handing out the kids' allowances and playing "banker" when their money runs out.  Of course, we will be dealing in much smaller bills. :)  He also was given the responsibility of keeping the kids on task and in order while keeping me from going insane.

Aaron was on a mission.  Right off the start he was buying stocks, trading up for a better salary and speeding across the board with each spin of the wheel.  He thought every turn was his turn and we repeatedly had to remind him to wait.  He was definitely in a hurry to get somewhere and he went pell-mell until he arrived at "retirement".  Along the way he made a lot of money and spent a lot of money and in spite of the ups-and-downs of the game, he had a good time!

Norah experienced a bit more of an emotional game of "Life".  She started off a bit bumpy with a relatively low salary.  She was a little pokey in the spinning department and seemed to lag along behind the rest of us.  She felt each and every play ... if her spin brought her a surprise windfall, she was ecstatic ... if her spin cost her any cash, she was gloomy and moody until her next turn.  "Life" did not improve for poor Norah and she ended up having to start a new career half-way through the game at an even lower salary.  The wailing and tears at the end of the game were real ... even if the game was not.  Here's hoping that our real future with Norah isn't as emotionally charged! :)

Ashley was just along for the ride.  She enjoyed organizing her money and cards ... even at the cost of possibly organizing some of her cash into Aaron's pile.  She filled her van with little babies (girls only, please) and poked along near the back of the herd.  She never bought a stock card, never cried over losing her turn and never yelled "boo-yeah!" when she got to trade up her $70,000 salary card for my $100,000 salary card.  She puttered along and seemed surprised when she reached the end of the road.  Her focus was most certainly on the social aspect of the game ... and the refreshments.

Lydia played a different version of "Life".  She had her little white car, one little pink person and a cup.  She was happy enough to zoom her little car around the table, practice her "vrooming" sound-effects, shuffle my cash and re-organize my cards and Life Tiles.  She fussed a few times because we wouldn't let her spin the wheel, mainly because a spin from Godzlydia equaled an earthquake measuring 9.7 on the Richter scale.  As is usual with our little Liddy, she played her own game and was happy with the outcome:  one little pink person wet from drool, one pile of someone else's cash spread from one end of the table to the other and one belly full of milk.  Perfect.

My game of "Life" also seemed to be an interesting reflection of my real life.  In the beginning of the game, I started out rather slow, but as the game moved along, my "life" speeded up!  Exactly how my days feel now ... zoom!  Where does the time go?!  I experienced very little excitement during my turns - just the usual day-to-day aspects of life.  Except for the tennis lessons I gave Norah ... now that would have been exciting! :)  As my life experiences began to add up, I ended up with several "boo-yeah!" plays that resulted in a nice little stack of cash.  In the end, it turned out that I won with about $4.1 million dollars.  Wow!  Definitely not like my real life!  But ... while I may not be a millionaire, I am still very rich ... you know, in love and family and such. :)

The only aspect of my "Life" life that didn't add up was the lack of kids in my van.  Apparently I chose my career over a family ... a choice I'm happy I didn't make in my real life!  I can't imagine how boring my life would be without these lively kids.

It would be quieter maybe ... but not nearly as much fun!