Pass it On

Pass it On

          “Anyone want to play Hand and Foot?” someone asked.

          “Yes!” multiple people respond as we congregated around my parents’ dining room table.

          We looked around the table to see who we had partnered with. Mom and Dad. Grandma and Bonnie. Becky and me! Yes! We’re bound to win!

          The game got started and all of the teams were staying pretty even. We won a round and Grandma and Chris lost points because of what they had left in their hands. Dad and Mom won a round and we lost points because of the red three in my foot. The game went on and on. I was starting to see why Jeff and Greg tended to disappear when six decks of cards came out.

          “I can open a book of sixes. It’s clean!” Mom said as she laid down four sixes.

          Why did she wait for a fourth card instead of opening a book the last time she drew a six? Weird.

          Becky drew a card and her shoulders slumped. Bummer. No new books.

          Bonnie drew a card and got a thoughtful look on her face. Her lips pursed. She sucked them in. She discarded.

          “I can open another clean book!” Dad said as he laid down four eights.

          Becky and I exchanged a look. She was as confused as I was.

          “Why didn’t you put down three last turn?” Becky asked.

          Dad smiled. “I didn’t see this card hiding.”

          Casper pushed at my hand. Since there wasn’t any food on the table, he wanted scratches, so I leaned over to scratch his soft white ears. Something caught my eye… Is that a card on the floor? Is that a card between Mom’s toes?

          “Hey!” I jerked up. “What’s going on?!”

          Mom and Dad started cracking up. “This game is going on too long! We need to get other things done today!”

          Mom had been passing Dad cards with her toes, and he had passed cards back to her toes so they could collect the cards that would get the game moving!

(To be fair, they tried to make it really obvious so they could get caught and we could call the game…)

Addie bounced on the couch next to me. We weren’t technically on the same couch since she was on the wedge that connects the greenish sectional that fills the living room, but I could feel the bounces anyway.

          “Here, Mommy,” she said.

          I turned, expecting to see her handing me a Monster’s Inc. memory card or two and burst into laughter! She was handing me some cards… with her toes!

          “Grammy would be so proud!” I told her.

          “Yeah,” she laughed.

          It’s moments like these as I see glimpses of my mom in my little girl that I most easily get to share stories with Addie about Grammy.