Did you ever pay The Game of Life? You know, you get a little plastic car and a little blue or pink peg-person. You spin the spinner and decide if you are going to go to college or enter the workforce. You get married, maybe have some kids, quickly move through life and retire (hopefully with some money).
Well, while I was driving to my grad school class today, I was thinking about how on point that game really is. There are so many decisions in life, the game and the real thing, and so much of what happens is left to chance, for example, how big will your family be?
When I played the game, I always wanted to get as many kids as possible. It was always my goal to end up with so many children that I couldn’t fit them all in my car. Obviously that never happened since the baby spaces are all one after the other in a short space on the board, and the odds of spinning lots of 1s and hitting all of them is slim to none.
But this is what got me thinking in the first place. Like I said, all of those baby spaces are all together in a cluster and you take your turns, maybe have some kids, maybe you adopt twins a little later, and then you pass through that phase of life and move on to the next.
I have already moved through the college phase of my life. I hit the stop on the board where you get married and I have two kids in my little plastic car. While I am not physically beyond the baby stage of the game, my husband and I have decided to skip all those other squares where our family would get larger and move on to what lies ahead.
I am not apposed to more children, but I am very happy with what I have. I am ok that this phase is past, but thinking of it in terms of a board game that sums up your entire life over probably less than an hour of play really seems to put it into perspective.
This year is my ten-year college reunion. I have a house and two kids. How did I end up half way through the game board when I feel like my life is just starting? I think I have hit some lucky spaces on the board thus far, though there were some bumps in the road and maybe a few “Lose a Turn” spaces along the way.
I always thought the rest of the game after the babies was less fun, but maybe that’s because my peg-children just sat there in the car and said nothing. I think my real life second half could be a lot better than the game made it seem. It can’t be all taxes, pipes bursting and car accidents, right?
My kids are amazing and I love to watch them grow and learn new things. I enjoy them at every age, in every new thing they do as well the things they grow out of. Even if we have passed through of the baby phase, these kid years have been pretty amazing so far, and I think there’s a lot in store for us as we continue to move our cars from space to space.
Well, while I was driving to my grad school class today, I was thinking about how on point that game really is. There are so many decisions in life, the game and the real thing, and so much of what happens is left to chance, for example, how big will your family be?
When I played the game, I always wanted to get as many kids as possible. It was always my goal to end up with so many children that I couldn’t fit them all in my car. Obviously that never happened since the baby spaces are all one after the other in a short space on the board, and the odds of spinning lots of 1s and hitting all of them is slim to none.
But this is what got me thinking in the first place. Like I said, all of those baby spaces are all together in a cluster and you take your turns, maybe have some kids, maybe you adopt twins a little later, and then you pass through that phase of life and move on to the next.
I have already moved through the college phase of my life. I hit the stop on the board where you get married and I have two kids in my little plastic car. While I am not physically beyond the baby stage of the game, my husband and I have decided to skip all those other squares where our family would get larger and move on to what lies ahead.
I am not apposed to more children, but I am very happy with what I have. I am ok that this phase is past, but thinking of it in terms of a board game that sums up your entire life over probably less than an hour of play really seems to put it into perspective.
This year is my ten-year college reunion. I have a house and two kids. How did I end up half way through the game board when I feel like my life is just starting? I think I have hit some lucky spaces on the board thus far, though there were some bumps in the road and maybe a few “Lose a Turn” spaces along the way.
I always thought the rest of the game after the babies was less fun, but maybe that’s because my peg-children just sat there in the car and said nothing. I think my real life second half could be a lot better than the game made it seem. It can’t be all taxes, pipes bursting and car accidents, right?
My kids are amazing and I love to watch them grow and learn new things. I enjoy them at every age, in every new thing they do as well the things they grow out of. Even if we have passed through of the baby phase, these kid years have been pretty amazing so far, and I think there’s a lot in store for us as we continue to move our cars from space to space.