(no subject)

[shadesong]

When I was a kid, my mother played Mah Jongg every Thursday night. She played with four other Jewish mothers. They'd rotate whose house they played at, so once a month, we had the women around the kitchen table, clacking down tiles, drinking cream soda and nibbling Hershey's Miniatures that mom set out in little glass bowls.

This was my idea of womanhood, what we were supposed to grow up to be; I always assumed that, as I grew older, I would learn to play Mah Jongg... I've been assuming this up until recently, imagining that, at some point, Elayna will help me fill the little glass bowls with Hershey's Miniatures and run off to play Barbies with so-and-so's daughter in her room, occasionally peeking in on us moms and being gently shooed away.

I've just had an epiphany.

I am never going to be a Mah Jongg mom. I've pretty much never had three female friends at the same time anyway - I hang out mostly with guys. And no one I know knows how to play Mah Jongg. And I don't have little designated glass dishes for the Hershey's Miniatures - I have a Sailor Moon apothecary jar for the Dove Promises.

I am going to be a D&D mom. I'll be sitting around the kitchen table, gaming, with men *and* women, some of whom are not parents, drinking Coke and coffee instead of cream soda. And that's the image of womanhood my daughter's going to grow up wth.

I like that. :)

Comments

[technomom]

I like that :-) My parents played pinochle with other married couples. I like D&D better. And so do the kids. BTW, Elayna is getting old enough to start playing herself!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

She kinda is, isn't she! :) She doesn't have any friends who have freak moms like me, though, so no one to game with.... unless everyone wants to run a kid-level game before she goes to bed then switch to our game afterward...

Re:

[technomom]

Sam runs games for kids from time to time. I think we've had 8 to 14-year-olds in the game - or is there a 15-year-old, Sam? And our older kids have started running their own games with the other kids whose parents game with us :-)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Maybe we could get Elayna involved? She's 7, but she's an extremely intelligent 7...

Room for one more!

[sambear.livejournal.com]

There's always room for another kid in gaming. Especially one who's never played before. She'll have a blast.

This (http://www.samchupp.com/kids-rpg/) is where I plug my Kids in Gaming list again.....

Re: Room for one more!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Hm! I shall have to check that out. :)

Re: Room for one more!

[yendi]

Which reminds me -- did you run the kids RPG thing at DragonCon last year (after seeing this page, which I've now bookmarked, I'm seeming to recall that you did -- I know it was run by someone whose name I recognized from WW stuff)? We'd thought about begging to let Elayna participate last year (since she was just 6 at the time), but didn't, in the end.

Re: Room for one more!

[sambear.livejournal.com]

I ran the Kid's Track at DragonCon last year, yup yup.

Resigned this year, already, but there you go.

Re: Room for one more!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

What happened?

Re: Room for one more!

[sambear.livejournal.com]

Ack!

I typed this long response and it died. I'll have to post. Be on the lookout.

Re: Room for one more!

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

*shielding my eyes from the sun and gazing intently toward the horizon*