Glimpses of Beauty...: Mexican train and life

I'm back form almost a week at the beach. Beach people do what real people do on vacation- they eat, they sleep, they play games. At the beach, many games and some meals involve sand and salty water. Actually, many beach people also have sand for their sleep- you see groups and singles of beach people sleeping under piers and special beach umbrellas. The rest of us bring the sand home to add to our sheets. The inexperienced beach people are the red ones sleeping in the noon sun.

I am the one hiding under the pier. The sun is not my friend.

But when the sun goes down, the kids are tucked in, the table cleared and the glasses refilled, the real games begin. And we played Mexican Train.... turns out beach people play it just like Mountain People. You pick twelve random domino tiles and build "trains" or strings of dominos based on whatever domino is the "engine" for that round. You start with 12s and go down to 1s- although even beach or mountain people rarely finish an entire set of twelve. That's a lot of dominos to mess with. Refill the glasses.

I figured out how to import an image from the internet! Yippeee...

So... the game goes on. And on. Depends on if you're winning or not. And sometimes it feels like you are clearly winning until one stupid hand and you are dumped off the winner podium and that sneaky player who has been quietly sitting there has won. Drat.

So what is the point? Let me examine some of the facets of the game of Mexican Train and the game of Life.

You may think you are choosing but really even your choice is random. You don't know what the tiles will be- will you be able to cleverly line up all your dominos? Will they be a mess of random tiles? Will you be able to just quietly mind your own business and play out your little hand in peace and quiet?

Just what we think we choose our pieces to play life. We choose a good spouse and he or she turns out to be a flawed human. Who expected that! You adjust and line up your life pieces- kids, a minivan or never a minivan, a...... fill in the blank- it's still about control. You will buy a house or never get trapped in that rip off. You plan to work as a .... until you retire. Or retire and live at the beach, in the mountains, on a golf course or even on the mission field. You have your train all lined up.

Mexican Train has some sneaky ways to mix the game up. There are double domino tiles- two twelves, two elevens, tens, etc. So if you have a double and you play it on your train or WORSE, someone has to play it on their train AND cannot immediately add to it, you are involved! The game stops while everyone either messses up their trains to pull out a tile to put on the "open" train, gleefully uses a random tile they didn't want in their hand anyway or horrors, draws more dominos. Those new tiles may or may not fit into the clever train you have planned.

You see the life application. There you are just going along "playing life" quietly. Planning your train. Lining up life. And someone else's train intrudes. There are no end to the interruptions- in fact, if you haven't had your life interrupted you probably aren't fully living and certainly not in community. And you must not have children. They are the ultimate interruptions. So are broken down cars, ear infections, business trips, broken air conditioners, cancer. Life is suddenly put on hold while everyone has to respond.

And it's all about the response. In a lively game of Mexican Train, the chatter is as much fun as the game. And in life, when your carefully constructed plans and ideas of how life works are interrupted, challenged by a new arangement, it's all about your response. When the choices you made suddenly seem to not fit together and you can't even see a train, a logical pattern. A reason. When it's all about the interruptions and less about your control, that's when Life begins.

This week has been a test of my character, of how I respond when I am not in control. I've had to stop other people and ask for help. I've had to wait for others to respond to my inquires. I've had to attempt to make decisions without all the information I need. I've been tempted to stand up and dump the table, yell and stamp my feet.

"It isn't fair. I'm playing the game right. I had my train lined up. I don't want to mess it up with having to interact with you. Go away and let me finish my ... MY. Me, mine."

Life isn't Mexican Train. It's a silly example. But it's a reminder that life, like a game, has pieces that I cannot control, has a pace that I cannot always set. It has other players that I have chosen to be with and sometimes their train needs a response. Playing games is all about being a good sport- not kicking over the board when you lose, speaking with our kind voices, treating others like you want to be treated, not cheating when you might have a chance.

Sounds like good response to life.