Just Like Old Times

Mike and Jerri were in town from North Carolina to spend Christmas with family. Last night, they and Brooke and Andrea came over to join Robyn and me for an evening of LaRosa's, good conversation, and 3 hours of Apples to Apples (aka the best game ever).

For those who have never played A2A, I'll demonstrate... each player has 7 cards, each of which contains a person/place/thing/event. (Player 1's cards might be School Cafeteria, Carnival Workers, Abe Lincoln, Wine Tasting, Meat Cleavers, Men, and The Oscars... Player 2's cards might be Celine Dion, Pumping Iron, Bankruptcy, Large Mouth Bass, Pirates, Swiss Bank Accounts, and Flying Monkeys... etc.) Then the Judge picks a card that most often contains a random adjective (for example, "mysterious"). The Players' goal is to play the one card of their 7 that best fits with the Judge's card. So when the Judge says "mysterious", Player 1 is thinking "well... Carnival Workers are pretty mysterious..." and Player 2 is thinking "Swiss Bank Accounts are mysterious..." and hilarity ensues. The Judge then picks the Player's card he/she likes the best.

Got it? Good. Last night, the Judge's card was "miserable", and I was holding a card that simply said "AIDS." I figured I couldn't possibly lose that round. What could possibly be more miserable than AIDS?! The Judge chose someone else's card, "vomiting", essentially claiming that vomiting is more miserable than AIDS. For the rest of the night, that Judge was constantly peppered with such jabs as "no thanks, I'd rather have AIDS", and "man, I'd so much rather throw up and feel better in 5 minutes than get a common cold and slowly die over a period of 15 years..." What a great game. I highly recommend it.

What great friends. I wouldn't trade the life I have right now for anything, but it sure is good to hang out with old friends every now and then. I laughed harder last night than I have in many many years.