HELEN'S RULES

 "Mom... we need to get together and have a game of Skip-bo and play by Helen's rules."  

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I enjoy playing card games with my Mom.  One of those fun games we play is Skip-Bo.  Most people that play card games understand that most games come with rules and some have rules cast upon them.  This is one such game.  Mom would play Skip-Bo with two special ladies, Shannon and Helen and each had a different way of playing the game.  So when Mom and I got together to play, the question was... "Who's rules are we playing by?"  I would default to Shannon's rules because it was a far less confusing way to play the game.

 There is a maximum of four piles at a time that we could play on.  With Shannon's rules, all four piles started with the Aces and we worked up to the Twelves.  It was far less taxing on the brain.  But then came Helen's rules.  I guess Helen needed more of a challenge so two of the piles were  built up from Ace to Twelve and the other two piles were built down from Twelve to Ace.  When we play that way, we are constantly checking the piles to see which direction they are going.  It really messes with the mind, so that is why I would rather play with Shannon's rules.  

Helen passed away this June.  The tears didn't flow hard because Helen had a hard life, and it was understood that death was freedom for her.  I still wanted to do something to honour her.  She was a very special lady in my family so I got the idea of getting together and playing a game in honour of Helen.  

I texted my sister and she came by to join in the memorial gave of Skip-Bo by Helen's rules.  We laughed more than we cried, but we remembered Helen and that was what mattered.  

"What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” — Helen Keller