Did somebody say dominoes?!
My son's 6th Birthday, ATL Snowpocalypse memories, and other fun times in Texas...
I have a few fun stories about Dominoes. Here’s the first one:
I learned how to play out in Texas a while back, and it was pretty awesome. But to set the table… I (if there is such a thing) come from Spades country. This is to say that I played my ass off early and often, just like the many other kids did, and also that I can probably beat you. Put it like this; I knew how to shuffle before my hands were big enough to carry all the groceries from the car into the house one trip.
But as far as Dominoes goes, I was much closer to a big joker, than a little one when I learned. Actually, I was grown. Real grown. Grown enough to get my ass beat on that table, and my money took by some Texas boys. Which is precisely what had happened one day out there. Now, I’d been learning the game pretty good, and getting pretty good too, and decided to play some high stakes Bones one day before this gala I was set to go to that night.
$20 a game, and a shot every time the person after you opened up a new house. Let’s just say, there’s a big difference in being from Texas, and being in Texas.
Luckily the gala was free… and that I didn’t anything to do with that open bar by the time I got there.
Another story about Dominoes. During the Atlanta Snowpocalypse in Feb 2014, I was living with my parents for a beat. We had some fun times, and a lot of times, one of my best buds, Kwab, would come over. Now, a great many of you reading this know who he is, but if you don’t, it is rather impossible for even me to explain him to you in words. He is a stick of the best kind of dynamite.
But yeah, he was over to the crib the day the snow fell, and kept falling, and so he got stranded there with us. So hell, me and my folks taught him Dominoes.
And sitting around that table for what seemed like 72 hours straight, we had a lot of convos. One of which, was this crazy idea that I should hand write a poem, and drop it in the mailbox of this pretty girl up the street, asking her on a Valentine’s Day date.
Let’s just say that wasn’t the last time she said “yes”. Almost a decade later, we’re engaged, and he’s in my wedding. How bout that?
Way to go Dominoes, right!
Oh, and the other story about Dominoes? I wrote a (new) poem about them today, called “Big Six”. It’s in honor or my son Eli’s 6th birthday. Fitting right? Let’s just pray he likes it.
It, like all of my poems, have messages that are fitting for both children and adults. And this one? No matter how something ends, never be afraid to start over and play again. Like you would with the Big Six in Dominoes.
If you liked last year’s “I Got Five On It” 5th birthday poem (and newsletter issue), I think you’ll enjoy this. And kudos to you for reading this crazy column for over a year!
For Lack of a Wetter Bird, happy birthday, Eli! I love you son.
P.S.— I learned how to play Gin Rummy from my parents during that Atlanta Snowpocalypse, when we were stuck in the house like I was telling you about. SIX years later, we were all stuck in the house, but it wasn’t snowing. It was COVID. So in those months, I had the crazy idea to drive up the street, and teach my boy Nero how to play. We’d sit around that table for hours talking and enjoying ourselves like time wasn’t a thing. And now that I think about it, he’ll be my wedding this year, too.
Full circle, much? Let me get out of here before I start crying.