Solitaire

My grandmother, grandfather and dad!

Grammer and her sister, Christmas 1972.

I may have intimated lately that I have been having a bit run with solitaire lately. Really, it's become a bit of an addiction. And I can't really quite figure it out. I downloaded a solitaire game on my iphone. Usually when I download games, I play them like crazy for a week or two, then settle into a nice rhythm of playing occasionally when I have a few minutes to kill. I keep waiting for that to happen with solitaire, but it's not happening. I can't stop playing. I tell myself one more game. Then that game will suck. So it will be one more game. Then one more and one more and one more. I'm serious here. It's as if I can't stop and put the phone down. Or if I do, I go right back a few minutes later and start again.

And why? Most of the games I have downloaded involve some mental skill or physical dexterity or something. In most of the games there is a learning curve. I start out poorly, then got better (implying skill). Solitaire is chance. 100% chance. There is no skill. There is no challenge. Why?

So today I was thinking, maybe it's hereditary? My grandmother played solitaire. My grandmother played solitaire ALL THE TIME. My memory of spending time at her apartment (aside from the jiffy pop popcorn we had for breakfast, the see's candy she kept in a drawer, and the teenagers who ran across the roof of her condo to jump into the lake), was her sitting in front of the TV, watching soap operas, and playing solitaire on a little TV tray. A game barely fit on the tray, but there she was, set up in front of the TV. I later learned that it is possible that there was alcohol involved too, but I didn't know that at the time. And I wonder what she thought about it. Did it drive her crazy. Could she not stop playing? What did she think?

And then I wonder have I turned into my grandmother? Is that better or worse than turning into your mother? Or can you simply not avoid your genes?

As I write those last sentences I suddenly realize it is mother's day - something I had completely forgotten. Happy mother's day mom and grammer and grandmommy. Thanks for all the good genes as well as the solitaire obsessions!

As an added bonus, both my grandmother's, my mom, and my dad!