High. Low. Jack. Game.
"I finally learned to play cards. Marriage will do that to you!"
When I was growing up, my parents never played cards. No gin rummy card parties for Mom, and no smoky, beer-swigging poker nights for Dad. Because of this, I never learned to play cards of any kind either. And all seven of my siblings never played cards either. Ever.
And then I got married.
When I first started dating my future wife, Trish, a couple of decades ago, she wanted to take me out to her family home to meet her Mom and extended family. We went out and it was a lovely evening. A barbecue on her Mom’s deck if I remember correctly. After a lengthy and delicious meal, I heard her mother say, “ Ok, let’s clean this all up and play some cards!’ I think there was a big shout of “hoo-ray!” from the crowd of family and friends. Everybody hustled to set the card table up and get started.
I quietly slinked into the farthest dark corner of the living room, feeling like a half-cent waiting for change.
“C’mon, Chuck. Grab a seat at the card table!” I pretended I didn’t hear that. Finally, Trish came over and whispered, “Are you going to play with us, Chuck?” I could barely eke out the words. “I don’t know how to play cards.”
It was a record-scratch moment.
I perceived a hush falling over the room. I distinctly remember it started to get chilly, even though it was July. All of a sudden everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion. I actually think the lights flickered on and off for a moment. The look on everyone’s face was the look that said, “Oh, no!”
I stayed in that corner and watched and listened as the card frivolity went deep into the night. I read a month old magazine, played with the dog, and pretended to cheer on the winning hands up at the lively card game.
Honestly, I couldn’t wait to leave and go home.
On the ride home I told my Trish, “That will never happen again. You are going to teach me how to play cards starting tomorrow!”
Her game, and her whole family’s game, is Pitch. It took me a couple of days of thorough card indoctrination to learn it, but I did. My wife is an expert player. And a great teacher. I would call her a card shark, but she won’t let me.
Easy enough, “high, low, Jack, game.”
Trish and I have been married now for more than twenty years, and we have played hundreds of games of Pitch with family and friends, often time games that went deep into the night. Every game was a blast.
I guess this is illustrative of how we learn. From what goes on in our house when we are growing up. Some families watch their parents play cards with friends, and then they do also. Other families watch and play sports together, and the kids carry that passion on through their own lives. Some Dad’s tinker with cars, and their kids become adept at fixing any car problem. Some kids watch their parents cook, and then go on to be chefs.
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In my own family it was music. My father was a master of the keyboards. He had a huge Wurlitzer organ in the basement and he played it for hours each night. The sound of his sweet music would waft up through the heating ducts and into the many bedrooms of our large house where his eight children were asleep.
So while we never played cards then or for most of our lives, all of us grew up with a great love for good music. And almost all of us can carry a tune with the best of them.
I am ever so grateful that my loving wife showed me the way to the card table all those many years ago. I wouldn’t have missed all those good times for anything.
What was the most important thing I learned about playing cards? It is a sure tell-tale sign that I learned early on! See it below.
