Go Gert

I just returned from celebrating Christmas with Laurie’s family. If I’m not mistaken, this was my first official large family function with her side and it went well. What I’m coming to love most about her family is just how comfortable everyone is with who they are. They live their lives out loud. And while they are acutely aware of one another’s warts, they are determined to stick together for the long haul—warts and all. Not that this kind of commitment-in-the-face-of-imperfection doesn’t exist in my family, it’s just nice to know that Laurie and I will be building on two very strong, very similar foundations.

While I was there I got to play cards with Gertrude—Laurie’s 91 year old grandmother. She is a live wire. She still drives herself around safely, loves to travel, frequently stays up past midnight and is a total card shark. We were playing Garbage; a game that requires you to come up with increasingly improbable combinations of cards in order to win. I think I managed to take one hand, but Gert invariably left the rest of us holding the bag. And she would always wink or act surprised whenever the cards went her way. As Laurie would say, “Go Gert.”

I think I remember one of the poker players at Horizon saying you should never play against old people because they’ll clean your clock. After this weekend I think I can safely say that little bit of advice applies to any card game or game of chance. Anyone who’s managed to live into their 90’s is obviously on better terms with chance than you are.