Backgammon - And Other Foolishnesses I Miss

The other day in McDonald's, there were a couple of guys playing Backgammon at a table near the door. They were both probably retired, and they both had nothing better to do I'm sure. Why am I so sure? Because Backgammon is a wonderful game. I just wish my husband would believe me on that.

I remember always wondering about the crazy board on the other side of the checker board we had but no one I knew had any idea of what it was for. Then a few years before I retired, Wendy Carroll, one of my students, kicked a relationship up with me and became one of my very dear friends. Almost at the beginning, she brought in her Backgammon set and insisted I learn how to play. At first it was nothing much, then it caught on. I love Backgammon. I have a little set I bought at Hammonds Toys. I have a game on my Itouch. I have played it on my computer often. I even went insane once when Carl and I were in Hawaii and bought a little magnetic travel set and tried to teach him. He didn't love it. I was devastated.

Why didn't we ever play Backgammon? We played Checkers. We played Dominoes. We played Monopoly. We played all the board games except for - - Backgammon. Why?

I concede that Wendy didn't play very hard with me and allowed me to win though she contends she never did. She would even back me up and give me tips when I blundered and didn't see the obviously great moves. I'm not a worthy adversary on this, I know, but I might become better if I had someone other than a computer to play.

But then no one plays board games or card games anymore. I miss that. My parents used to play cards on vacations. My Uncle Glen taught us to play Hearts when we were too young to hold the cards. I loved Pinochle in my single days when my roommate, Janice Canady, taught me her Racehorse version. When I got married, Pinochle got put away when I found that Carl played another version and wasn't about to convert. I haven't played Canasta in more than fifty years. I don't remember the rules but I remember it was fun. My Grandma Cannon used to be shuffling the cards when I returned from my student teaching at West High School ready for some really steaming games of double solitaire. It was so much fun.

My granddaughter, Sophia, is getting into Old Maid and Go Fish. Maybe I can have hope in her.