My life as viewed through our Yahtzee scorecards

I turn 37 today, so naturally it is a day of reflection. And gratitude. And a bit too much sugar. Thirty-seven years ago I entered this world and what a journey it’s been. Seven years ago we entered the Foreign Service, a career that has stretched that journey across a large span of miles and to the ends of the earth.

My 3-year-old daughter brought me Yahtzee this week and wanted to play. Opening it was like opening a time capsule, and I was quite unprepared for the flood of memories that would ensue.
Let’s start with the pens. Every pen I have ever lost was in the box. Some I haven’t seen in years. I counted 11.

Next, the box itself. It’s barely hanging on–written on and torn– but still with us. I remember buying this game just before leaving for our first assignment: Djibouti, Africa. Our two children were young and we didn’t own any board games, so we decided to buy a few before heading off to the Horn of Africa. I figured we would have plenty of family downtime and would want something to do. I was right. We played more games in those two years than I thought possible, especially Yahtzee. I think our seat-prints can still be seen on the living room carpet.

The scorecards. The journey. For some reason I can’t explain–and must be attributed to the level of intense heat and boredom at the time–I began each game by writing my name, location, and date above the column. I didn’t intend to chart our family history, or even our guest book, but ultimately that’s what happened.

5.29.06 must have been a rough one. We played six games in a row, with a high score of 305 and my average was 270. One particularly daring round I filled in my name as “Champion.” 6.13.06 was a lucky streak for me totaling 467, my all-time high. I missed my upper-section bonus but got three Yahtzees. My luck must have run out on 8.15.06 for an all-time low score of 177. Chris set the record on 9.8.06 with 535: 3 Yahtzees and high scores in every section. On 3.29.07, the night Chris turned 32, we played two games, presumably following cake and ice cream.

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We played enough to develop strategies and take risks, much like learning to live in Africa for the first time. On 9.1.06 our oldest played with us for the first time and scored a whopping 494. We played again the next night, likely encouraged by his success, and he scored 503. He was literally on a roll, and we didn’t have the heart to tell him it was a lucky break. He understood soon enough when his next game totalled 275. He wrote his name in shaky, newfound handwriting acquired by attending the local Indian school. He practiced his number line across the top while our youngest daughter drew and colored on the backs of cards. Somewhere in there he grew up filled everything in on his own. On 11.25.06, we played 4 games on the evening of our first Thanksgiving abroad as a family.

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You know the part on the back–the part most people never even notice–that lets you write in all the players scores for a 6-game grand total? We even filled some of those out. We calculated averages and made predictions.

The visitors. There’s a card for Sheridan, who came to visit us while she was in Kenya. We played two games. Wendy, our dear neighbor and friend, joined us for four games. Nanny and Papa visited one Christmas. We played three games. Grandma didn’t make it to Djibouti, but she met us in Europe. On 7.26.06 we played a game together in Vienna on a card table in a small guesthouse.

Our next assignment was Sydney, Australia. By then we had doubled our family–and our board game selection. Two children entered school. We had adopted one child and gave birth to another. Life was busy and Yahtzee had more competition. Yet, on 6.25.09 my oldest and I played a game together, while our 2-month-old daughter must have slept. Five Yahtzee games in 2 years. Sydney, what can I say?

Now we’re in Kathmandu, Nepal, and we haven’t played once as a family. Until my daughter brought me the box, I don’t think I’ve seen it. I played a game by myself, just to mark the date 4.30.12, Kathmandu. Three of our four kids are in school. They have a long commute. I am pursuing my Master’s. There is more competing for our time, including gadgets that plug in and require touching, tapping, and swiping. Floor time is not what it used to be, though we still manage to squeeze some in, and somehow I feel sad. It makes me want to go wake everyone up and say, “Yahtzee time! Meet me on the living room carpet in one minute!” Maybe I will. [Editor's note: I took a break from this post to interrupt my husband's movie and ask him to play Yahtzee with me. Bless his heart, he did.]

These cards tell our story. We haven’t thrown a single one away, and probably never will.

So, come visit–we’ve got a score card waiting for you.