December 2001

Games
By Brian Lee

They have always been a huge part of our lives.  Like any family with kids, parents realize games are a child's life blood.  It is how they make sense of the world.  How they practice interacting with others.  We have had many games over the years.

There was Santa's Trap Door.  This was played By the Dad sitting on the edge of a chair and the child's butt nestled into the crack where the legs come together.  The dad says "So little girl, what would YOU like for Christmas?"  The child would reply with her heart's fondest wish.  And the dad would reply "We are out of those so you get . . . SANTA'S TRAP DOOR!  And the dad's legs would slide apart quickly, gently dropping the giggling child to the floor.  This was always a crowd pleaser.

And of course Daddy Surfing was, for a while, the game of choice.  This was played with Dad laying on the floor on his belly.  The child would gingerly step up and stand on the back of the Dad in true surfer form.  Gentle swaying side to side provided waves and excitement.  The usually ended with a massive butt drop onto the Dad's back, accompanied by mischievous  laughter.

Then there was my favorite. The I Love You More game.  This one was started by the Dad saying "I Love you princess". If she wanted to play, she would say "But I love you more Dad".  I would say something like "I Love you more than the sun Loves to shine" and she would counter with "I Love YOU more then the wind Loves to blow".

And so it would go.  Dogs barking, hair growing, daddy's belching, chickens laying eggs, cat's sleeping, frogs hopping, bees buzzing and on and on and on it would go.

One day, in an effort to see what she would say . . . I told her, "I Love you more than any person has or ever will love another".  Watching her clear blue eyes I could see the wheels spinning, the synapses crackling, choices considered and discarded until finally I could tell she thought she had the perfect answer . . . "I Love you just a liiiitttle more than that Daddy".  I stopped the game there, proclaiming her the winner.

And indeed to a normal man, she would have had me beat.  But I am not a normal man.  I am her father.  I Love her more than life itself.  So I really won that day, even though I never told her.  But it was really, really close.  I beat her by just a liiiiiitle bit.

Brian Lee
His Original Poetry