Trivial Pursuit

Yesterday was family game day [slash] postponed Mother’s Day for me. Since I spent last weekend out of town, the kids decided to honor me yesterday, and what a fantastically wonderful, hilariously fun afternoon and evening we had.

Daughter brought her boyfriend, two dogs and lunch. Eldest son brought his two roommates and sodas. Youngest son brought his buddy and healthy appetites. Hubby behaved himself, as did our dog. I even ate a few carbs and didn’t explode.

We played Apples to Apples and Trivial Pursuit. Both games were neck in neck until the very end. No one cried. At least out loud. We did all laugh, out loud, and often. The day was a hoot. It was hard to see it end.

This truly is the way I want to live my life. With family and friends, laughing and playing together. Sharing food and drink, and telling many a story of past good times. Memories that have already been made are helping to make new memories.

Steve seemed in good spirits. He hardly did his “ALLLLRIIIIGHHHHT” double thumbs up while grinning like a maniac thing. We’ve just about gotten to the point that we just groan and roll our eyes when he does it. Silly man.

Lying in bed last night gave me some contemplative time before drifting off to sleep. Steve was still up watching TV in the living room and youngest kid was up in his room finishing off some homework. The house was quiet and dark.

I realized how much more relaxed I am nowadays when others who don’t know us very well come over to our home. I’m not really concerned about what my hubby will or won’t do. I’m not worried about what newcomers will think about us or some of Steve’s oddities.

When everyone is being silly and goofing around, the Asperger traits really aren’t apparent. If my Sweetie says something weird, they just laugh and think he’s joking. Both games we played required some thinking, so Steve didn’t or couldn’t launch into a non-stop discussion on cars. He needed to concentrate on the game at hand.

Since we ate before we started playing, Steve was sufficiently nourished so he didn’t have any blood sugar lags or spikes. We were busy playing for close to six hours non-stop so he didn’t have time to have any sort of anxiety or panic attacks. We were able to keep our collective strengths up by munching on into the evening. No one was hungry. Well, possibly with the exception of the two teenage boys who are always hungry during waking hours.

These points of achievement may seem trivial to many people, but they are all marks of contentment to me. They represent a normalcy that can often be missing in our home.

The pursuit of happiness. Learning to go with the flow. Getting another piece of the pie.

Not trivial pursuits for me in the least. Just apples to apples. It’s a good feeling.