Memo to self – never try to get all three groups of people together to play board games again. Ellie and Awesome are in their own world. They're super-smart, though, so they catch on to the games quickly, at least. Casey catches on quickly, too, but he doesn't care about winning – he just seems intent on making certain player's life hell, which really limits the games I can choose. Sarah, of course, fits in with any group. And Morgan is finally "potty-trained" enough that he works out OK. Anna would be fine if she could contain her completely illogical jealousy of my sister. Even when she's mad at Morgan, she takes every comment to Ellie as a personal affront. It'd be funnier if Morgan didn't feed her so many reasons. Jeff and Lester, on the other hand, are just working inappropriateness. They can't seem to open their mouths without sticking their feet in. Sometimes it's comical, but it can get old very fast.
Anyway, I was trying to get people together to play some old, great games before they might get replaced with new ones on Christmas. We started with a game of Wits and Wagers, so we could all play together. We all like that one, because everybody (well, except Jeff) has a reasonable chance of winning. Then, with nine of us, we broke up into two groups for a while. I'm happy to play anything, so I just went where Sarah went.
So I ended up playing Cartagena and then Power Grid with her, Ellie, and Morgan who is still trying to get into Anna's good graces. The rest played "Busen Memo" over and over and over again. I'd like to get Lester's copy of that and burn it. I mean, it's just memory with weird pictures. Why do that when the real thing is so close and so much more appealing?
The children, as Ellie calls them, even Devon, talked us into some XXXenophile, too. We all have our own decks, of course, and it's been fun to see cards make the rounds. But it's hardly a favorite of mine.
Once the Buy More crew left to go drinking (apparently the 2 24-packs of beer weren't enough) and Casey to … I dunno, polish his gun, we actually had more fun. It's so natural to just sit around with Sarah, Awesome, and Ellie. We played St. Petersburg a couple times, some Carcassonne, and even a round of Agricola. It was perfect.
I could so easily see myself doing this kind of thing with Sarah and my family for the rest of my life. I'd want a better job, of course. And I could do without the imminent danger to my life on a weekly basis. But quiet moments like today are so wonderful. I often wish they could just last forever. But would it be enough for Sarah? Would she be satisfied or is it too boring for her? I wish I really knew.