Jack of All Games
Recently, I was on a family vacation in the north woods of Wisconsin. My brother and sister-in-law have a cabin on a lake, tucked deep into hundreds of pine trees, next to a national forest. Eagles, raccoon, deer, birds, bugs, bears, and bats are among the many friends of the forest. We often catch glimpses of them during our stay, even though I’ve only managed to see bear prints in the sand, near the water’s edge from time to time. Spending time at the cabin always produce some of my favorite memories of the year. We spend each day on the lake and each night near the campfire or crowded around the table, playing games, laughing and talking about random topics.
It’s a family joke that my daughter is the queen of card games. Sometimes, no….most times, when she’s explaining the crazy rules, you think for certain they’ve been made up. She claims otherwise, and has been taught by other friends. Hannah is rarely at a family gathering without a deck of cards. She actually started a collection.
However, this year, we discovered, she’s also Jack of campfire games. One night, we were gathered around the fire talking and laughing when Hannah decided we needed to play a game. She started off with one we had learned at the cabin many years earlier. I was thankful I remembered how to play the game, but was surprised my son and nephew had completely forgotten the rules. It went on until everyone around the circle either figured it out or quit. One by one, we had to declare what we were bringing on the camping trip, then determining the rules, you were either allowed or not.
After most people figured it out, she moved on to the next one titled, the Hat Game….oh my gosh, that game went on and on. My future daughter-in-law was the only one that figured it out for the longest time. The two hats used during the game eventually got chucked into the trees by my son, who claimed he didn’t want to play the damn hat game any longer…HAHA.
Onto game number three which, by all accounts was ridiculous and we all gave up, except my son who figured it out. I think three people claimed it was too stupid and went inside the cabin…LOL. Game number four probably lasted the longest and I’m happy to report, I figured out about half way though. The last game was only played by my son and his fiancee. The rest of the group knew the rules. They had to determine the story we made for them by only asking yes, or no questions. Of course, there was never a story, but they thought they were figuring it out. We laughed so hard. It was a good game, especially being on the side of knowing.
Even though it was just simple camp fire fun, we discovered Hannah was not only queen of cards, she was also the Jack of all games. Some were ridiculous but I wouldn’t trade the time we spent with family around the fire, laughing. Have fun making your own summer memories with friends and family.
xoxox…..Sheryl
PS….the hats previously chucked into the trees were recovered by my son (one of which was his)…..insert hearty laugh.