You Live, You Learn

Slice 12

A buddy had my family and another over for game night last night. I’ve lived lots of lives. In lots of ways I’m lucky for that and in others I maybe would be a little more comfortable in a few ways had I settled down and stuck around somewhere earlier in life. Doesn’t matter because it is what it is now and most of my experiences, good or bad, have given me what I have now, so I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

As a teacher, I like to learn. We kind of have to or we’ll burn out and get left behind pretty quick. It’s funny, because before writing this slice I made myself complete the final portfolio project for the development class I’m taking and it involved a lot of reflection over what was learned during the class. Looking back what I most remembered was how, on the onset of each new thing, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to be the type of teacher to do the things required. I am the farthest thing from a TPT or Pinterest teacher. Not knocking them and their crafty, clever, color-coordinated assignments and classrooms. I wish I had it in me. I am creative, in my own way. I just didn’t grow up fancy and definitely don’t have any fancy anything going on at work. And in the end, what I produced over the course of the class was nowhere near as pretty or polished of the other educators I looked up to and admired – but I did do all the things. I figured it out. 

In one of my previous lives I flitted about different parts of Florida off and on. Muggy back patios far from the plastic Disney paradise parts lit by palmetto bug flecked swampy lighting was where I first heard of the game Euchre. I watched a few times and it seemed like a different language. Those fluent loved it. We were young and weird and it struck me, even then, as something our people did ironically. Pre-gaming raves in our “cool” unique, usually homemade party costumes playing a card game passed down by permanently sunburnt, nicotine infused elders who probably just wanted someone to play with after their nights in their party outfits moved on for one reason or the other. That was so many lifetimes ago and I never sat down and learned that language, despite multiple opportunities in multiple incarnations of this one life that’s felt like so many.

Until game night last night. We were haphazardly sat around the big table. My host friend has been nagging for a while now that my girlfriend and I learn. I live 3 minutes away and my other Euchre-playing buddy and his girl, who were also in attendance with his family, live pretty far away so it’s a chore for them to get together and play. Practice rounds commenced and, just like this class I finished up, I kept telling myself that there is no way I’ll ever grasp this language. I’m not dumb. I know that so it was extra frustrating when things didn’t click. It’s a game. Kids play it just fine. 

It was a safe place for me to just say, “nope, this is not the type of chill relaxation I need on my weekends – set up the Triv P and get ready to be dominated.” But I stuck with it. We played a bunch of games. Had excellent food together and maybe one or two too many beverages. The final game, however, was those two Euchre playing buddies, me, and my college age son who has seen Euchre-mania run wild in his frat house. They play for hours on end, I guess. I don’t think they pre-game raves with it like we did at his age, probably more like keggers, but the similarities still struck me as pretty cool. Not only did I handle this new language ok, but we won the game. And now there’s a new, fun thing I can do that I thought would elude me for years. Lifetimes, even. Maybe I needed a bit of a reminder that even though I’ll never be fancy, I can still learn new things – and I love coming out the other side with an added something about me. Looking back, I’m pretty sure the delineation between all my different lives is outlined with what I took from one to the other. Even if I am finally somewhat settled now, I don’t plan on giving up on learning any time soon.