Wednesday, August 5, 2009

342 Days Until the Big Five-0

Is it Kaluki or Kalookie? It is the card game my mother raised me on and it has become the gift of distraction in her old age, a way for her to forget about her constant physical pain. But most of all, it is fun. For decades my mother was left alone in the kitchen playing solitaire as a way to pass time. Perhaps she was on the cutting edge. Now people spend endless hours playing all sorts of games on their computers including Solitaire. My mom played Kaluki with her best friend Bernice. They spent hours and hours with those cards and cups of coffee creating a friendship that would become standard by which I would learn to measure all other friendships in the world. Then my mother took Kaluki to her upstairs neighbors Bess and Sol, and their friends Hershel and Sarah. The five of them made every Saturday night a picture perfect evening.

Now, my mother has trained her two care givers, Jinky and Bonnie in the art of Kaluki. She has also taught the game to my daughter, her granddaughter, who absolutely loves it. I imagine one day I will be playing with my granddaughter and I will remember my mother just like she remembers her mother while we are playing. My mother has given me many gifts over the years, and learnng how the play Kaluki maybe the best one of all!

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