Happy Birthday Dad!!

The family that plays together stays together. That is us. My brother and I grew up playing board games and card games as a family. We even had our own designated night of the week where it was just a given that a game was going to be played out. So it was no wonder when we congregated yesterday to celebrate my dad's birthday that a game would ensue. Make that a hot-competitive-game of croquet.
To make the game roll a little faster, we divided ourselves into teams with the hard-fast rule being that the teammates had to alternate hits; no matter what. So no stacking of the hard shots for the best player. At first, my son hugged his sister and sweetly said, "I wanna be on my sister's team!" ... which got a smirk from my girl, but no real commitment. In pops his cousin who said, "I'll be your team mate!" Thrilled he got an offer, he ditched his sis and went for the older cousin.
But my son has rarely, if ever, played a real game of croquet. To start, his swing looked more like golf. To which the end result was a hammered ball clear across my parent's backyard. The photos below tell the story. Notice the crossed fingers of my son's teammate when it was his turn again.The two blondie cousins were a pair and they started slow. It was not due to lack of strength or know-how, it was because both girls had no spacial awareness to each other whatsoever. The common thread of conversation whenever their turn was up? "Why don't you move away from your partner? Give her some space to hit the ball." Every. Single. Time. They took the team work title very seriously; We Must Do This Together!
My parents were a team. Their form was spot-on to start. Knocking balls left and right. Awww, considering one was the birthday boy, we let them continue for awhile. Until we were coming back the other way to the finish line, then their offsprings and spouses blew them away and left them back in kidville.My brother and his wife ... the pair that looked like a professional golfer with his better half. My sister in law can hold her own with her spunky independence, and my brother knows it, but of course what game of team croquet would not be complete with out one member telling the other member exactly how to do everything. This lead to a friendly bicker between the two, my sister in law reminding my brother who had the mallet every time he felt the need to offer advice. Letting it all out ... she held that team all on her own. He knows that too.
It was a nail biter type of ending. My husband and I coming from behind to inch just in front of my brother and sister in laws ball. We were so close to hitting the final stick. But it was their turn. The tension mounted. My brother getting into the action called for a meeting with the Birthday Boy Judge. Trying to strategize his play to get the most number of hits to make it to the final stick before he gave his turn away to us.
It was a close one. The kids have now ditched the game (the adults kinda blew them away in the beginning and it is amazing really that they stuck with it for as long as they did) and are now rolling around on the grass and lying on the hammock waiting for this game to be over. My brother states his case, the men are all eagerly listening and stating their claim to the rules and bylaws, while the women look on with the silent thought of, "Really? This is just a game of backyard croquet."
The wind up ... the hit ... ohh, and he misses the stick. In for the ringer, his wife, who saves the team once again for the win. We all shake hands, the kids run free, time for dinner ...My dad. He's one year older today and he looks fabulous. I am not sure if he would want me to broadcast his age, but after being cleared this past Spring of making his fifth year anniversary Cancer-Free, we are blessed and thankful and grateful and in love that he is with us with a clean bill of health.
It comes as no surprise that when his grandchildren were born that he would be the type of man who would sit and hold the babies, feed the toddlers, play in the Ikea tunnels endlessly with the two year olds, teach them how to woodwork, play music, and camp when they got older, be the leader of the friendly jokes and teasing ... he is there for his Grandkids in the same fashion as he was there for his children. My dad's rock solid leadership, his wisdom and character, his morals and ideals, his humor and softness is unmatched and I am proud to call him mine.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!! xoxoxoxoxo