Glancing up at Lance across the brightly colored game board, I knew we had arrived. This is our dream. We are living it. With my tear-filled eyes and gratitude-filled heart (I’m such a schmuk), I took my turn. “Two purples, Mommy. You got TWO!”
Early in our marriage Lance and I would talk late into the night about what we wanted for our imaginary family. The family that we longed for, but were slow to be blessed with. We giggled over what the “pitter patter of little feet” would sound like. We even smiled as we joked about who would give baths and who would change diapers. Our most cherished dreams, though, were the ones that involved playing games.
We both grew up playing board games with our family: Monopoly, Life, Clue… we remembered, and we wanted that for our own children.
Ten years later, we have arrived at our dream. With the little terror in bed (because fighting and flying game pieces is not part of the dream) our favorite evening activity has been playing a board game with the older two before we read books. Our current collection includes Memory, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders. We cheer each other on as we all learn about winning and losing, playing fair, and being a good sport. We high five when someone draws the coveted ice cream cone card, and we “aw, shucks” when someone lands at the bottom of the board after a long slide down.
We catch each other’s eye. And we smile, because we’ve dreamed of this night. Quiet evenings at home circling a lighthearted board game is the stuff our dreams are made of; and living your dream is surely one of the Finer Things.
Stop by Laura’s blog for more Gratituesday. Also, my bloggy friends and I would be most grateful if you’d join us for our Bloggy Progressive Dinner next week!
Oh, what memories playing board games with you brings to my mind! How many times did our two families play Monopoly, Skip Bo, Uno, Phase 10, Trouble, etc.? We love playing games with Aubrey in the evenings as well…after Abby is in bed, of course!
Your post reminds me of Spurgeon’s Morning devotion today…sometimes God waits to answer our prayers, but we enjoy the blessings all the more that way.
The progressive dinner sounds like fun!
I love playing board games. My Husband and I still play them often. I think we might start a family game night. Thank you for sharing this.
We love board games too. Great post.
It IS so much fun playing board games together!! Such a sweet post.
What a great thing to post about! We love playing board games as a family, especially with the baby in bed!
I have many memories of playing games with my family during my childhood. Your kids will remember these nights!
Thanks for sharing!
we play board games sometimes. Dh isn’t that into them, but I think we are slowly bringing him around. LOL!
This post brought tears to my eyes- so sweet! My hubby and I both grew up in game-playing families (mostly cards, though) and we LOVE that we can play some games with our children now. We had a wonderful Candyland Castle Game marathon this past weekend! I hope they have the same special memories that we have…