Home - Day 8 - The Game of Cribbage

I bought a cribbage board several months ago hoping that M. and I could get into playing. With all the preparation leading up to the surgery we just didn't get around to it. I can remember cribbage for as long as I can remember. My parents used to play it with their friends and still play a game or two every day.

The night my parents arrived from Quebec I decided to break the game out after dinner. We played a couple of games and it was great. For me, cribbage is an ideal game: there is strategy, calculation, luck and this wonderful board that allows you to visually watch the progress of points. There is one other part that of the game that comes when my mom is playing and that's trash talking. She does it in an innocent kind of way but it is what it is.

When I was recovering in the hospital we broke the game out a couple of times. To me the game indicated that my brain was back and functional. While I'm at home my mom and I play after lunch and dinner. If M. or my dad are around they join in, but for the most part it's me and my mom. I get a couple of wins in here and there, but the woman seems to be taking a significant portion of the games. We'll be close and then all of sudden she'll get 16 points in her hand and then turnover her crib and score an additional 12. Meanwhile I'll get 4 points. The frustrating part is she'll have a mediocre hand until the cut and whatever card is turned seems to be exactly the one needed. Now imagine what happens when you take someone who trash talks with a 4 point lead and you give them a 24 point lead. She'll start with "Oh my that's quite a gap"; then when she gets her hand "another great set of cards, what two should I give to my crib"; finally it will end with "look at that, I have skunked you again".

I however skunked my mom today, but that was my 1 to her 3 games. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Today was another good day. My sleep was regular and the body pillow gives me that little respite I need for my back and neck to recover. We hit the 20 minute mark on our walks and I'm starting to feel better during the walk. My chest is still pretty tight and deep breaths are about 2/3 of what they should be. The melting snow is making things tricking, but M. set my mom and I up with these Yak-Traks that you slip onto your boot and the grip on ice is amazing.