The Simple Things

I live in a world where Jude and I work extremely hard, in often stressful jobs, so we can send our boys to the best schools; play too expensive travel sports; get lessons and private coaching; travel; and got out to eat or pick up take out food (too much).  We're not rich, not by a long shot, but I guess we're comfortable.

Still, what is amazing, and fun, is that often time, it's the simple things that bring us the most joy.

Recently, for no particular reason, Joe and I started playing Fruit Ninja on my iPad again.  It's a simple - there's that word again - game that's been around forever.  You hold the iPad and fruit flies up from the bottom of the screen.  With your finger actions a Samurai sword of sorts, you slice the fruit.  What you cannot do is mistakenly slice a bomb when it flies up, because if you do, it's game over. 

We've played this game in the past but suddenly, at the end of the last real summer of Joe's childhood, he and I started playing it again.  Sure enough, Jude soon joined us, as did JP.  The past week or so, many nights at bedtime, all four of us lay on our bed, taking turns playing Fruit Ninja.  It's silly and it's simple.  

And it's beautiful.  

All of us compete for the high score.  Joe and I compete against each other left handed.  In fact, he broke my all time scoring record, last night, playing left handed.  Bragging rights for the night!  

In a way, it reminds me of the halcyon days early in the pandemic when Jude and I competed against JP and Joe, in a variety of events, in the Family Olympics.  Jude kept score on the white board in our den, the one she uses, now, to detail all of the scheduled family activities each week.  Connect Four, Around the World, etc.

Even better, on Saturday morning after a rare night as empty nesters, Jude and I were laying in bed, talking.  We started laughing about how she and I used to play a pinball game on my iPad in the old house, before (we thought) JP was born.  I knew the pinball game had a Wild West, cowboy theme.  I looked for it in Apple's App Store and, sure enough, there it was!  I downloaded it on to my current iPad and we were off to the races.  

Jude quickly outscored me.  I seemed to remember she was better at the pinball game then me.  By Sunday, Joe was playing it, and JP, too!  All of us competing against each other.  All of us laying in our bed together, playing pinball.  

And, by the way, I have the current high score at 3,000,000 +.