the story behind this game

Alexandria, June 2007

This past June we visited my dad's awesome friends, C.L. and his lovely, funny, salsa-dancing wife, T.L. in Washington, D.C. They invited us to their home for dinner, and it was the warmest evening among friends in my recent memory. T.L. made a fantastic hearts-of-palm salad that she swore was so easy anyone could do it, but I've tried to emulate it a couple of times and have failed miserably. Matthew and I played with their Chinese checkers set all night. No one could beat Mom's 3. We left and I was sad, but knew that there would be other visits both to Hawaii and to D.C.

Anyway, a Chinese checkers set arrived in the mail this morning, and I was so excited and touched that T.L. and C.L. remembered how much we liked the game. Dad got on the phone with them even as I was unpacking the marbles.

The conversation slowly turned from "Thank you so much!" to "I'm so sorry to hear that." I was worried that there had been an accident or illness or something else awful.

It turned out that the checkers set was their set, the same one we had played with in June. They packed it up and shipped it to us because they're divorcing. And they remembered how much we enjoyed it.

No one else (in my house) is surprised by the divorce because they seemed such personality opposites. But that's what I loved about them. His humor is dry and almost undetectable, and he does quiet things like collecting rocks and gems. She laughs out loud and does things like salsa dancing on the weekends. They were a perfect example of love to me. In the little time we spent with them I saw their differences as their glue. And the little things that I think are so big in a relationship: for them it was his hand on the small of her back, and the way she adapted their last name in her native language (Spanish).

So, not such a happy holiday story, but I'm glad we spent that time with them.