My Very First Time

Scrabble is back in vogue, as are many other beloved “old time” board games.

Scrabble, Monopoly, Candy Land, and let us not forget The Game of Life, Twister, Mouse Trap, Battleship, and Risk.

Do you recall the first board game you ever played? Was playing board games synonymous with family time in your home?

I don’t recall the first board game I ever played. However, I do remember the first time I heard of the board game Scrabble, and I fondly remember the first time I ever played.

How it all began:

One of our very early serious topics of conversation once Gene and I realized we would travel through our lives together was agreeing to leave New York. This conversation took place in the Bronx Zoo where all serious conversations should take place.

We dreamed of living “somewhere” else. We did not have a “somewhere” else in mind. Anywhere else would be wonderful.

And that conversation, ladies and gentlemen, is how we landed in the great state of Louisiana.  Baton Rouge to be exact. Louisiana State University was the draw.

Gene’s mom was horrified. They hang people from trees! People who live down there have bad sicknesses! These were just two of the creative reasons she offered while begging us not to go to that place. Finally, when our families accepted we were indeed going to that place, we were urged to check with our doctors which inoculations we would need once we crossed the border into Louisiana.

No inoculation required!

We drove down in our brand-new Studebaker filled with most of our worldly belongings. Upon our arrival we scoured the university for our married student housing apartment. Found it! We both felt giddy with excitement for our future.

We were about to enter a brand-new world, and a culture so different from the one we knew.

We unpacked, and taking my mom’s advice on what to do first, I made the bed, and got the kitchen and bathroom set up. The moving truck would arrive the next day, bringing whatever would not fit in our car.

After chatting with our new neighbors, we took a walk to explore our new surroundings.

And suddenly we hear someone shouting: “Gene? Gene Schmuckler?” Who do we see running towards us? It was Irv, a classmate of Gene’s from Brooklyn College.

What are the odds? Two Jewish guys from Brooklyn College arriving in this Southern town of Baton Rouge, at the same university, on the same day, taking an exploratory walk at the same time enrolled in the same PhD program.

Irv’s wife, Anne, and I easily became good friends.

Anne quickly became pregnant. She chose to be a stay-at-home mom. I was working in the psychology department and taking classes.

A little over a year later, I, too, became pregnant with my Raina, the first of our four daughters.

Anne loved the game of Scrabble. She introduced me to the game, and I immediately fell in love with it the very first time I played.

We determined the evenings would be our best time to play. With a little ingenuity we created our very own two-way radio. I would call her and when she answered we would leave our phones off the hook. Whether she was in my little apartment or I was in hers, we could hear our children breathing. Our telephones were our very first babysitters.

And that was my very first time. I was no longer a virgin to the game of Scrabble.