Saturday, January 6, 2018

In Sync

We had a little family dinner tonight in honor of what would have been my dad's 83rd birthday and my sister-in-law's mom, Judy's 81st. Although they never met, I dare say the two of them would have relished the festivities had they been here-- the food was simple and a little old school, prepared with a few of their favorites in mind, and we drank a toast to each before digging in.

Afterwards we enjoyed coffee and dessert by the fireplace and played one of the Christmas games. Think n Sync consists of a box of cards, each with a general category and four more specific questions. For example, Vegetables: Name an orange vegetable, Name a vegetable you put in salad, and so forth. The challenge is, after a countdown of 3, 2, 1, to say the exact same thing as your partner does.

It's a simple concept, but surprisingly revealing and a little profound when it comes to thought process, strategies, social skills, and relationships. Should you say what you think, or what you think your partner thinks, or what you think your partner thinks you think? Do spouses have an advantage? What about siblings? Parents and kids? Cousins? If so, is that fair? If not, does that mean something?

Oh, our game was rather low stakes; we didn't even keep score, and that was probably a good idea, because everyone had fun, no matter what ridiculous answer their partner gave. I think Bob and Judy would have gotten a kick out of it, too.

Happy Birthday, guys!

No comments:

Post a Comment