The Holy Grail

Here it is---the Holy Grail---mom's Scrabble game---the one I learned on at 5 years old---when I could only spell 2 and 3 letter words. After mom died, I didn't really give anybody a choice---I snatched it right away. It has a lot of sentimental value and memories for me. I played Scrabble with my grandma Zimmermann too. I love the game.

Mom had this original word guide in her game. We've used it hundreds of times. But, alas, playing with the family on our vacation, we discovered, that this guide is hopelessly outdated. I'll be keeping it for the memories, but I do need to get another more up-to-date version.

On our vacation, the grandkids really got "in" to Scrabble. When we would sit down to play, Mitchell would say, "okay, we're playing for second place." Meaning that they knew they couldn't beat me. Still, they liked playing and played many games with me. I taught them my "tricks" and secret moves. I wowed them by playing the word "d-a-r-k-e-n-s" for a total of 98 points. Then I told them the story of playing a 7 letter word with Jeanne recently, but I couldn't remember the word or how many points it was worth.

I look forward to the day when the kids start beating me. I don't think I beat mom for the first time until I was about 22 years old. After that, she still beat me most of the time---of course, she had the advantage of her crossword puzzle vocabulary---but I won once in awhile too. I love that we're now on generation #4 with Scrabble. Mindy loves it too. Steph is a sore loser, so she doesn't like to play with me---nor does Butch. Sandy plays, but since only 4 can play, she didn't get a game this trip. August when they are here, she'll definitely get a chance.

A couple vacation shots. I thought I had a good one of Greg and Sandy, but that must be on Greg's camera.