I learned to play chess when I was about 12 or 13, and my great uncle Harvey taught me. He loved the game. I instantly wanted to master it and beat Uncle Harvey. I didn't particularly like him. He was an uncle by marriage and he talked weird. (He grew up in Boston.)
However, he put up with my great aunt, who was a total nut. [I had more than 30 great aunts and uncles, BTW.]
Anyway, I have learned that Mike likes to shop in antique stores, thrift shops, and junk shops. Sometimes the definitions blur a LOT, at least around here. There's a place not too far from here called Scavenger Hunt and they have a huge variety of things, from furniture, to lamps, to old TV's, CD's, DVDs, knicknacks - just about everything. We headed over there this morning to bum around.
I didn't think I'd find anything of interest there, but I thought it would just be something to do. Mike's best buddies have been out of town all week and he's been pretty bored and bummed out.
We found 2 DVD's, a paperback mystery for Mother, and a beautiful chess set for Mike, for $21, total. The chess set was $10. It's all wood, a traveling set, and it's beautiful. I found it in a back corner of the shop. Ironically, I'd been looking for a chess board for a while, but unable obviously to buy a nice one due to finances. Mike had said he wanted to learn how to play.
Now, I wanted to play chess so much when I was young, I really really tried to be a good player.
I wasn't then and I'm not now.
I have a lot of talents, but chess is not one of them.
The first game was a teaching game and it ended in a stalemate.
The rest of the games we played?! Mike beat me. Yep, he's a much better player than I am.
Oh, the humiliation I feel as a chess impresario wannabee...
Ah, the pride I feel as a mother, knowing my kid is really really smart and he picked up the game in a nanosecond. I don't know why I'm surprised. He learned English in 6 months.
(He's also taller than me now, officially. Oh well. I still can cook better.... ;-)
