Bowling Night

Our family and friends love to play games. Our family and friends are competitive. We can be pretty loud when we get going. There is a history of full contact board games. Dominoes have been pushed off the table when played in the wrong place; there have been cases of intimidation during Battle of the Sexes; Pictionary and Charades have become very loud; Scrabble greatly debated. There was even the incident that collecting the cards to ensure we had a full deck was more important than tending to someone who had a grave head injury when the tree branch fell (well maybe not grave, but it did hurt). Some family and friends newly initiated into our circle have been taken aback (one friend stood up and proclaimed she was an only child and not used to such goings on). But for our family we are used to it and it is never mean spirited.

But, I think my son has gone soft after becoming a father. I have no other way to explain the fact that after a loss in Wi bowling to his mother (how humiliating) did not play the sympathy card. I know many other family members who would have pointed out that holding a baby while bowling should be considered a handicap.

Not that we would have listened. Not that we would have given the argument any merit. But we would have proclaimed the handicap had caused the resulting trouncing. We would have continued to proclaim it for all eternity.