Board Games

Saturday December 19, 1992

We sleep in and have a nice breakfast. I feel so good. I call Gary for them to come to dinner and we will play games. I clean house and dust. We dig out a bunch of adult games from the garage attic. Gary and Maria arrive about 5:30. We eat at 6 p.m., a prime rib dinner. It's great. We spend the evening playing Clue, Concentration, and Yahtzee We have a really good time. We are all exhausted by 11 p.m.

What a great idea. I remember playing Yahtzee, Clue, Monopoly and Life with my friends as a girl. When I was very young it was Chutes & Ladders and Candyland. It was great fun. Today our family owns a Monopoly game, a Scrabble game, and a Battleship game, but they are rarely played. Our boys would much rather sit for hours playing video games with their friends on-line. Although it is still a social game, their friends are in their own bedrooms at home and they talk to each other through a microphone and headset, so it lacks the face-to-face interaction. I encourage our boys to get together with friends in person as much as possible so as not to lose the fine art of communication and body language, but most teens would rather communicate with their friends by texting on their cellphones. Even calling friends on the phone is old fashioned. I have one absurd image in my mind of Derek's high school graduation party. 10 of his friends sat in a circle in our living room. Do you think they were talking to each other? No, they were all texting away on their cellphones!

Smaller Than Marbles

Sunday November 29, 1992

Up at 7:30 feeling a little better today. After getting cleaned up and washing my hair Frank and I go to Raley's Market. We buy cutlets to fix for dinner. I buy some stool softeners to begin taking daily. I'm worried I might get constipated and have to have surgery. My bowels are so squeezed by tumors now that I only eliminate stools smaller than marbles. Maybe 1/2 that size.

After lunch I lie down to rest. Frank and Justin go for a 4-mile walk to Raley's. Frank buys Justin a taco at Taco Bell and a yogurt at the yogurt store. Later we play board games with Justin.

Frank makes a great cutlet dinner plus more leftovers. We watch some TV and retire at 11 p.m.

Ah sweet Frank! You were such a wonderful grandpa, first taking Justin on a long walk, thus teaching him the value of exercise, and then taking him for out for a treat. Then he fixes dinner for everyone. Not too many men like Frank! So thoughtful.

I'll bet the game we played with Justin was SEQUENCE. Frank made the game for Justin and we still play it occasionally. It's one of my favorite card games.

It must have been terribly uncomfortable being so constipated. I injured my back 3 days ago and have been taking Vicodin for back pain. It does take the edge off my pain, but it gives me a horrible headache and basically shuts down my intestines, even when I take stool softeners with the medication. I have to balance which is worse, the back pain or the constipation?