My current mood oscillates between dread of the present and hope for the future. As I try to navigate this by focusing on the future I am left with loose ends hanging everywhere. With that I need distractions and family provides the perfect one.
Last night was bingo night at the boys’ school. I can’t tell you the last time I played bingo but it has been a long long time. It might have been when I was in elementary school myself. As it was bingo did not go well. We left with one child running out the door long before anyone else and with none of us knowing where she went.
She gets that from her mother who thinks it is an act of independence to never tell anyone where they are going. I lost my future wife in a bookstore once when we were first dating. Whenever I had been shopping with other people there was a general politeness of telling people what section you would be in. There was no obligation to stay in that section but it provides a starting point if the other person wants to find you.
Back to bingo and our perpetual bad luck. None of us won until the final card and in that it was only the aforementioned daughter who does not yet attend that school. Neither of the boys won and they were both highly upset. Roland because he hates losing and Windsor because he likes toys. Roland was gifted a beach ball by a kind older kid while Windsor quickly departed the building in tears. Somewhat lucky he did because that is where we found Abigail climbing on the statue of the school mascot.
I tried to explain to my children on the ride home that they were simply born into a family where bad luck is part of the deal. It’s like living life on a 10 degree incline. Everything comes just a little bit harder, but looks the same as it does for everyone else.
That’s why bingo, rigged as it was for elementary aged children, yielded no prizes. They were trying to play until everybody won, but they didn’t know a vortex of misfortune walked among them. In it all I am grateful for the time with my family and the distraction from all life’s mess.
David Huzzard Writes 