Fun and games

Of course, we’re both in a funk of sorts. I had a meltdown about a week ago and have since felt reasonably calm and content. It was during the meltdown I said, “I’m just gonna go outside and ask people to spit on me.” I call that my rock bottom, and it has been nothing but up since.

Dale doesn’t do meltdowns, but I would say his low point was after we got back from the grocery store, because that was his happy place, and it’s not anymore. It also turns out Dale is much more extroverted than I am. He misses even the smallest interactions with clerks and neighbors.

We’ve talked through it, not without pain mind you, but we’re still a unit, committed to getting through this healthy, happy and together. I read about relationships being stressed right now, and my favorite line was something like this:

Don’t search for the perfect partner. Try to be the perfect partner.

I could tell Dale needed some comfort food and suggested burgers. We have everything for that, and he jumped right on it. We’re taking an indulgence break and will have burgers tonight. Then it’s back to broccoli on Friday.

We talked about playing board games, and I did an inventory of our toy chest:

  • Risk
  • Monopoly
  • Othello
  • Scrabble
  • Yahtzee
  • Backgammon
  • Dominoes
  • Pente
  • Cribbage

Most of these have been sitting idle for some time. This might be the 70s talking, but I don’t remember anything about Othello or Pente. Dale doesn’t like Scrabble or Yahtzee, my two favorites, so we’re going to start with backgammon. We used to play a lot and have a beautiful board we bought in Egypt. We’ll need to brush up on the rules.

We both used to like cribbage, but his mother was a fanatic, and we both got burned out on it during one of her visits many years ago. Perhaps enough time has passed that we can try it again.

Other unexpected items that showed up in the toy chest during my inventory include:

  • German flag
  • Survival cards
  • Mexican game with cup and ball on a string
  • Multiple decks of playing cards
  • Phantom of the Opera mask
  • Latin dictionary
  • Arabic at a glance
  • English-French dictionary
  • Eisenhower postage stamps

How about you? Are you playing any games while in confinement? What’s in your toy chest?

8 thoughts on “Fun and games”

  1. We have been playing Cribbage for the first time. Not a bad game for two people quarantined together. Even though I’m not as good at seeing all of my points, I guess I’ve been lucky, with the cards I’m getting, as I am still a few games ahead at this point. 😁

    1. I actually liked playing cribbage with my mother-in-law. She was a difficult woman, and all was at peace while she was playing! I like that you’re keeping track of who’s ahead.

  2. The grocery store has never been my happy place and now it’s more like entering hell. You can tell I went this morning.
    We play Yahtzee and Scrabble plus Boggle and Battleship. We bought another game for two people, but now I don’t know where it is. Oh, and cribbage, although that’s our camping game. We’re trying to figure out how to play games online with our son and his wife.

    1. That’s a nice selection of games. I had never heard of Boggle, but I just looked it up, and that looks great. Dale won’t play Scrabble with me. What’s odd is that he has a fantastic vocabulary and knows way many more words than I do (he maxed the verbals on his SATs). He just doesn’t play the game well.

      We also used to play two-handed spades, but I’d have to research that one.

  3. Dear Donna – no more ‘meltdowns’, please … I do not have a ‘toy box’, I have a ‘toy ROOM’! It’s tiny but it is my Aladdin’s Cave. Helps keep my level of insanity just where I want it, even in virus-free times. We are starting to play Chinese Chequers. Alan

    1. No more meltdowns. Promise. I love the toy room idea. In a previous house, there was a room we didn’t use, so we set it up for darts and jigsaw puzzles. It wasn’t wide enough for a pool table or we would have done that.

  4. The grocery store was what I was missing most during convalescence after surgeries last summer.
    I so understand your husband!

    Think I’m gonna make a trip into the basement to look for the games in the shelf. We both like scrabble and I remember that there is one in a shelf.

    I always enjoed reading your posts, but had no enery to comment. Sorry for that, but I’m not yet “the old”.

    1. I think you do understand him. Let’s hope you get back to your old self soon. Sending you good vibes.

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