LIFE IS A GAME
And I love playing!
“The challenge, if you care to accept it, is to eat seven in two minutes.”
My husband said this and then presented our guests with a neatly stacked pile of saltine crackers. He went on to explain that although it may look simple, and like anybody could do it, nobody—nobody—has ever done it.
Eight of us were seated around the table. I immediately said no. I had seen this game before and knew it was impossible. After a few rounds of peer pressure, however, one of our guests agreed to the challenge. And to everyone’s amazement…he did it! In fact, after he was accused of cheating, he did it again! He has become a legend around our party table and will forever be known as Saltine.
I was remembering this story as I was racking my brain to come up with party games for my daughter-in-law’s baby shower.
Yes! I am soon to be a grandmother for the first time. I’m so excited!
I’ve been consumed with what my name should be…Gi Gi…Mi Mi…and accepting the reality that it may not be up to me. Babies have ideas of their own. There was a time when I believed it would never happen—me becoming a mother-in-law or a grandmother, that is. As you know, both of my children are past the age of 25, not married, and worse—they said they didn’t want children. And then, like a flash flood, it happened all at once! This year, we will have two weddings and our first grandchild.
This news is rather bittersweet because my children are living far away and on opposite sides of the country, so I’m not involved in the planning, and in their lives, as much as I wished (and dreamed) I would be. It also means that this assignment has taken on a life of its own. I want my party games to be the best darn party games anyone has ever seen!
So, just like the popular TV game show suggests, when you’re unsure, call a friend. Several of my friends are grandmothers a few times over. They know the current trends in party games, right? To my horror, ALL of them said they HATE party games! This idea is foreign to me. How can anyone hate party games? From icebreakers to games of chance and skill, I love them all.
Not liking party games may be a strange idea for me, but it’s not a new one. At work, we call it “Team Building,” and I’ve been coordinating team building for various workgroups for years. At staff meetings, my games are often met with groans and eye rolls when I offer them up, but everyone participates. Perhaps it’s because they are at work, and feel they have to…but I like to think that secretly they’re having fun.
Albert Einstein is attributed to the saying, “Life is just like a game. First, you have to learn the rules of the game and then play it better than anyone else.” I must have heard that in science class as a kid and really took it to heart.
I consider this to be somewhat of a life motto. I often make up games to motivate myself…count backwards from five to one before taking a plunge into freezing cold water…setting a timer for the two-minute-tidying-up session, where I challenge myself to clean the kitchen in under two minutes. I have a pedometer to count my steps and a speedometer on my bike to log my speed and distance. I’m now working up to the two-minute plank, with ten flights of stairs and fifty pushups every day.
Besides all that, I have been tasked with organizing the party games, and I am happy to do it, because after all…
Life is a game.
