"Sure!" Miranda says and runs off to tell her parents what kind of pizza we'd like.
"Thanks, Babe." Josh squeezes my hand and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. At least after all this time with Josh, I feel equipped to deal with it if our kids end up being picky eaters.
When we get to the dining room, the Santos family is already there and having a debate about which game to play first. I'm sort of surprised to see that there is a pretty good stack of them on the end of the table. Why would they travel with so many games for just a weekend? Then I notice that several of the boxes are really old looking. The General Manager must keep games here for entertainment purposes. It makes me wonder what dignitaries might have used these before us. Once again, I'm reminded that I don't have a normal job.
Miranda draws us into the debate over what to play.
"Tio Josh- what's your vote?" Josh looks over the boxes. He lingers on Risk for a minute and I roll my eyes. I hope he realizes that isn't going to work for family game night with 6 people, not to mention that Miranda is five!
"Monopoly?" Josh suggests with a shrug. I don't think he's really much of a board game player.
Helen writes 'Monopoly' down on a piece of paper and folds it up. Ah, I see what she's doing. That's how my Mom handled family game night too.
"I vote for Yahtzee." I say and she writes that down as well. Josh looks confused.
"Why are you writing them down and folding them up if you already know how we voted? It's not really a secret ballot that way." Peter and Miranda look at him like he's an idiot, but Helen just smiles gently at him.
"Josh didn't have a brother or sister to play games with when he was your age." I say looking at Peter. I don't mention that he was only a few years older than Miranda when Joanie died. I doubt that Matt and Helen know about Joanie, and I'm not going to mention it. Josh wasn't exactly an only child, but in many ways it's like he was. He doesn't talk about his childhood much. What little I do know tells me he grew up very differently than I did. I wonder how that's going to effect us when we have a family of our own.
Helen picks up the pieces of paper and adds them to the bowl that's next to her. Then she holds it out to Matt who takes a slip from the bowl. I see the understanding dawn in Josh's eyes.
"First, up is Yahtzee." Matt says.
"Yes!" Peter and I say at the same time. He must have picked Yahtzee too. Miranda starts to pout but Matt shoots her a look that says "knock it off." I manage to avoid giggling at her. There were times growing up where family game night almost ended in tears before it started at my house too.
We are about half-way through the game and Josh is taking it pretty seriously. He fits right in with a very competitive family. It's kind of fun to watch. He just rolled 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. He's already used his chance spot and his ones, and he already has his small straight, but he announces- "I'm going for the large straight" as he puts the 1 back in the cup and shakes it. He gets a 1 again so he scoops it up and gives it his third roll. Another 1. Well, I'm never taking him to Vegas.
"Damn." He mutters.
"Tio Josh said a swear!" Miranda announces and Josh looks horrified that he just swore in front of the bosses' five year old. Luckily for him, Helen and Matt burst out into laughter.
"Give her a dollar, Josh." Matt says. Josh looks confused but reaches in his pocket, pulls out his wallet and produces the bill.
"It's for the swear jar." Helen says. "If you swear in front of the kids you have to pay a dollar. How do you think I got Matt to stop?"
Matt snickers. "Well, mostly."
Josh smiles sheepishly and pulls another $5 out of his wallet, laying it on the table.
"I don't like losing." He says, causing Matt and Helen to laugh even louder.
"Just don't teach her any new words." Matt finally says.
During the second half of the game, Josh starts asking Peter's advice about what which die to keep and which sets to go for, and Peter gives him good strategy. I doubt that Josh really needs the advice, but it's a great way for him to interact with Peter. The pizza arrives and we eat while we finish the game. I notice that after he sees Josh take a cheese only piece, Peter does the same. He's much quieter than Miranda, but I think maybe he admires Josh too.
I haven't really had many opportunities to see Josh with kids before, but he's surprised me. He seems to be a natural and seeing him with the Santos kids makes me feel a little less uncertain about raising kids of our own. I'm still not ready to think of it as anything more than an abstract concept out in the future, but a little glimpse of reality helps ease the doubt that sometimes creeps up on me. I know I want kids someday, and I know that given our ages, someday needs to happen sooner rather than later, but I'm just not sure that we'll ever be ready.
When the game finally ends, I'm ready to go home. I can see that Miranda wants to play something else and I hate to disappoint her, but with my luck they'd pick Monopoly or something that takes forever. I sneak a glance at Josh and find him looking intently at me.
"Well, this was a lot of fun." Josh says. "And I'd like a rematch sometime," he ruffles Peter's hair. "But it's Donna's bedtime. I need to take her home."
Peter wrinkles up his brow, trying to figure out if I really go to bed at 8pm, while Miranda looks at me sympathetically.
"I get to stay up until 9 on weekends." She says with pride. Josh smirks at me.
"Well, maybe after she has her bath and puts her jammies on, if she's a very good girl, I'll let Donna stay up a little bit longer and read . . . or something."