WEYBURN - The thing that I remember the most about spending time with my relatives when I was younger was the many card games that were played. We would sit around the table, visiting and catching up, and it was at the side of my grandparents, parents and many aunts and uncles that a love of card playing was created.
There were some common games that were very typical during each visit. Cribbage was the top game we played during reunions, and I have many memories of watching my relatives battle it out in a cribbage tournament.
I learned how to play Hearts, and, of course, Rummy during my youth. There were games that just became a tradition too, like how we called Spite and Malice (a double solitaire game) Spite Grandma Alice, because she just had very good luck at the game, and would always win.
I remember bigger games of Cheat around the table at the cabin, when it was too rainy to go outside or enjoy the campfire.
One of my most vivid memories of Grandpa Rutley was how he was just very cunning and smart when it came to Contract Rummy (or Pips/ Nickels as we called it). Some of my favourite baby photos of my son are of him sitting behind the baby board, with Grandpa Rutley behind him.
For us, card games were the best way to learn basic adding and subtraction, as each game had different point values for the cards. There were games where we wanted to have a high score, and games like Golf where a low score was better.
There were games that taught us the importance of communication between partners, like bridge. There were games that taught us that sometimes in life you don’t get a chance to lay down your meld or pitch high-scoring cards.
The most important thing was that these card games were a chance for quality family time, where we would just sit together at a table.
As we have grown up, and had children of our own, we have passed down a love of card games to the next generation. Recently, while we were on vacation, my son decided to make up his own card game (which he called MUG - Made Up Game), and then taught that card game to his cousins, who wanted to keep on playing it.
It will be those moments that will become keepsake memories for them, as they grow older, and I hope that when they do look back at the card games with their parents, aunts and uncles, that it evokes good feelings -- as I have felt.
