This past weekend I found myself in the middle of an argument with my wife and son on family night over a game of Life. It had been a while since we had played and we had to familiarize ourselves again with the game play rules. At the beginning of the game, where you decide to "start college" or "start a career" is where our game almost ended. When my son decided to "start college" according to the rules, he had to take out a loan. My wife instructed me (the banker) to give him his loan notes and the matching money to go along with them. That's where board game financial logic broke down for me. I argued that when you take out a loan for college you get no actual money, you just incur the debt. Otherwise it makes no sense. It would be like sitting at a closing table, getting the keys to your new house and the cash the lender is putting up too. Thinking I had argued my case to an agreement, my wife and son then counterpointed that you need the money to pay for certain spaces along the "college" route. Several other views were argued between us before my wife found in the rules that she and my son were indeed right in their interpretation..... so I gave my son the money. Board game or real life, at least that much seems to be the same. Although my half century brain may have forgotten the rules to this board game, it still has problems with accepting things that logically don't make sense. Even if it's "just a game."
Now I realize, my fellow Observers, that this game is just a form of entertainment, but I couldn't help but notice that some of the "life" events on the board have a striking similarity to things that actually could and can happen. On the positive side, you can get married, have children, buy a house, win the lottery and even host an online concert. Negative "events" include (but are not limited to) losing your job, crashing your car, having a tornado hit your house and experience a mid-life crisis. Other situations can get you cosmetic surgery (part of your mid-life crisis, I suppose), win the Nobel prize, find buried treasure and you can even hire a jockey for your race horse, I didn't even know I had a race horse. With all these highs and lows in mind, while trying to make the game reflect modern life, I wonder why, when they were rebooting, Milton Bradley didn't add spaces like, "Spouse wants a divorce, hire an attorney", "Custody battle, pay court fees", "Overextended, claim bankruptcy", "Lose job, bank forecloses" or "Mortgage underwater, mail bank the keys". How about "You won your personal injury case", Neighbors dog bites you, sue", "Junk bond scheme collapses", "Get caught cheating on your taxes, IRS audits". Here's a good one, "Network down, you'll have to speak to each other" or "Identity crisis, your son wants to be called Caitlyn". Now you got a full fledged "Game of Life" my friends. A game like that would certainly drive all the PC parents out there absolutely board game bonkers, wouldn't it?
Growing up we all played games like Life and Payday, using them as building blocks to learn how being an adult would bring on responsibilities. It's something, as children, we all looked forward to, wanted to experience as soon as possible and couldn't wait to be old enough to get a job, drive a car, get married or have kids. What we don't anticipate in our youth is what exactly is necessary to make it in adult life. That's part of being a child. We all liked playing house but had no idea how to make one, better still, make one work. This phenomenon is not just exclusive to children, mind you. I've met plenty of adults out there that couldn't buy a clue to what makes life tick. And it's not just twenty-somethings. I've run into thirty, forty, fifty and even sixty-somethings that have no sense of commitment to.... anything....their spouses, their children, their debt, their job. Only what they want. Never mind responsibility. That just cramps their style. I mean really! How are they supposed to go out on Friday and Saturday night if they spend all their money on something as frivolous as .....Oh, I don't know.... rent! Pretty ridiculous logic, don't you think? Trouble is these rejects from the assurance factory are serious about the self-indulgence they practice. To some of these "free spirits" even family doesn't get a check in the "obligation" column. We've all heard that 50% of marriages end in divorce and although there has been some recent research on that front to dispute that number, realistically over 33% of marriages will still fall victim to divorce. That's still pretty high, if you ask me. So, statistically, you've got a two out of three chance, or less, of making a go of it if you say "I do". I wonder what the odds of staying together are if you just shack up? The problem of divorce isn't marriage, per se, it's certain people's commitment to it. Society makes it all too easy for us to use that non-committal "trap door" to escape our commitments when we've had enough. We tend to look at our vows and our word as a "for the time being" sort of thing. The minute it imposes on what we consider our personal freedom, all bets are off and we're outta here! We get a lawyer, clean our slate and start the process all over again. Who cares if you've got kids? You'll just write a check once a month. Who cares if your vested? You'll just get another job. So what if your evicted? You'll just find another place to live. Problem is that they seem to forget that their life affects so many others in both positive and negative ways based on he promises they make and the ones they break.
This week, my loyal reader, I have been married twenty years to the most wonderful woman in the world. My "Game of Life's" pages torn out of the fantasies of my childhood expectations of being a grown up and placed into the book of reality that has become my adult life is by no means as perfect as I dreamed it would be as a boy, but it's mine to shape as I see fit. To choose to make it work as a reality or let it slip through my fingers because it's not living up to what I thought it would be and attempt to achieve my fantasy life that I know doesn't exist. No thank you... I'm fine where I am. Didn't I tell you that I'm married to the most wonderful woman in the world? You know why she is? She puts up with me. She sticks by me, despite my flaws and makes me a better person by doing so. She has shared my triumphs and consoled me in my sorrows. She has been the voice of reason among the din of chaos. She has rooted me in a wonderful place I call home with her and the two beautiful children she has given me. She is there for me when I need her and she gives me space when I need time to be alone. She is my life, my breath, my heartbeat. I would be forever lost without her and can think of no other I wish to live the rest of my life with. For those of you that are still looking for the life you dreamed of as a child, it's probably right in front of you. Sometimes you have to look for it. Sometimes you have to work for it and sometimes you have to fight for it. That's life....a lot of "sometimes" and not a lot of "always". The only "always" there are in life is that it's never easy and it never will be. We have to work at it.... we have to want to work at it....and sometimes we just have to move the number of spaces we roll and see what happens. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I have to reread the rules for Sorry.
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