*This post is part of a collaborative project - a year of stories shared by a group of 15 photographers every Tuesday in 2016. Please visit Cynthia Dawson after you read this post to continue the circle.*
As a society, we no longer value board games. We don't view them as opportunities to spend quality time as a family nor as instruments to teach important lessons under the guise of fun. Our lives are so hurried and harried, filled to the brim with mindless and easy entertainment. Board games are cumbersome to set up and clean up. They require an investment of time, most frequently all set aside at once. Before you know it, years go by and you've not wiled away an afternoon playing a satisfying game.
I didn't grow up playing games with my family. That was one of the things I looked forward to, upon having children of my own. I was so happy once we were able to go beyond Candy Land - a most loathed game of mine. However, that maturation brought about a game that my husband actually loathes: Life.
I enjoy it myself, but when we play with Shawn, he's always the banker. The banker has much more work than anyone else, so I can't really blame him. It's funny how that the Lady usually ends up with the $100,000 salary every single time we play. I usually get the $20,000. We forget about buying stock until the end of the game. They struggle with the spinner. Still. We trade salary cards many times, and it's always a controversy. We insist that spouses and children be named. We read our Life Tiles as we go, and you have to give voice to whatever you were awarded. For example, if you wrote a best selling book, you have to share the title, like _Tigers of the Beyond_ which usually represent whatever their current fascination is.
Everyone's life accumulations are summed at the end and we wait to see who came out on top. They adore it.
It's a long afternoon, but I hope that it will be these afternoons spent playing games at the kitchen table in their pajamas that they remember fondly about their childhood.
*This post is part of a collaborative project - a year of stories shared by a group of 15 photographers every Tuesday in 2016. Please visit Cynthia Dawson after you read this post to continue the circle.*