11 March 1934

Well, it’s the 11th of March again, Mom’s birthday. She would have been 79 years old today.

H, yesterday you had a meltdown while playing Monopoly with Nicki, C and me. It got a bit frantic and we all messed with your head and eventually you were so worked up you locked yourself in your room and cried. I think we were all collectively very sorry at the time but I thought I’d mention this as it reminded me of Ruth, my mother and your grandmother.

For some reason, we always played cards at home. Ruth would teach us tricks like shuffling upside down, and she even had poker chips in the house. These were red and blue and stacked really easily (they had special grooves that preventing them sliding and I still remember the feeling they gave you in the hand–really lovely). Ruth taught us Poker (5 card stud I think) and Canasta, and Casino and others I’m sure but I can’t remember now. Pretty much the only game she didn’t teach us was Pinochle and maybe that was because she associated the game with a particular type of player (the problem with children like C and you is that you’ve reached the age when you like to be cheeky and rowdy and edgy and rough but actually you’re still young and vulnerable on the inside. If I had to teach you cards, what game would it be? Maybe teaching you advanced negociation skills in Monopoly is a little too premature?).

So on the topic of rowdy card playing, Ohna sent me this today (on Ruth’s holidays on Staten Island):

She would talk about all the different guys and how they did their hair (were they all related? I don't think so...), sneaking cigarettes, staying up hanging out as the parents all hung out together drinking and playing pinochle. It sounded innocent but exciting...

Well, anyways, Ohna and I loved playing games with Ruth and back then we didn’t have a TV or the internet so that might have been a factor.

C, H, I just wanted to remind you of your Grandma Ruth on her birthday and remind myself that I have fond memories of us playing together. My guess is our rowdy Monopoly play is something similar, so I’m going to try and play a whole lot more with you guys:-)