So funny that you would mention Trivia! I just posted this on FB this morning.
My mom, LaVonne, was the sweetest thing ever! Just 4’11, she was also as tough as they come. Everyone who ever met her loved her. But Ma, well, she wasn’t always the brightest crayon in the box. She never got past the 6th grade, quitting school to help out at home. Dad, on the other hand, was extremely smart.
Our family was big on games. Ma’s huge dining room table sat a lot of people, and we’d get together and break out the latest game to tickle our fancies - Trivia Pursuit. To make the game go faster so we could get our kids in bed, we’d play as partners. Linda and hubby Russ, Lori and hubby Steve, brother Ron and his then-wife Nancy, Ma and Dad, and Ken and I would select our partners, roll up our sleeves and prepare to become that night’s geniuses.
Shameful as it is to admit, we were just competitive enough not to want Ma as our partner in the game. She was adorable, but she had a habit of blurting out the first answer that popped into her head, and it was always wrong. Rule was the partners could confer, agree on an answer, then respond, but the first answer counted. Ma never conferred, she just blurted, and that blurt counted. One night I think Ma was Steve’s partner. Dad read the question:
“Who painted ‘Blue Boy’?
“Thomas Gainsborough!” Ma shouted. Steve just groaned. Dad was laughing as he flipped the card to find that the correct answer was indeed Thomas Gainsborough. He laughed even harder. With dignity Ma excused herself and went upstairs to the bathroom. We waited for her in stunned silence, except for an occasional giggle and “Can you believe this? Misses every easy answer and gets that one “ None of us self-proclaimed geniuses knew the right answer but Ma somehow did.
She came back downstairs and sat down at the table. “You know, the whole time I was sitting up there I was trying to figure out how I knew that. I still don’t know.”
Believe me, not one of us have ever forgotten who painted ‘Blue Boy’. And that night is a memory that pops up every once in awhile at get-togethers. Well, last week Katie and I went with Ken to a couple of his visitations. We had a couple of games with us to keep us entertained while the men were having their meeting. We were escorted to the sitting room area and I had to stop and stare. Right in front of me on the wall was a print of ‘Blue Boy’! I just started grinning. There I was, getting ready to pass a little time playing games with Katie LaVonne, (named after Ma) under a print of ‘Blue Boy’, hung on the wall between the drapes identical those that Ma had always been so proud of in her house!
They say that our loved ones in Heaven are always sending subtle messages to those of us here on earth. Um, not very subtle, Ma!!
My mom, LaVonne, was the sweetest thing ever! Just 4’11, she was also as tough as they come. Everyone who ever met her loved her. But Ma, well, she wasn’t always the brightest crayon in the box. She never got past the 6th grade, quitting school to help out at home. Dad, on the other hand, was extremely smart.
Our family was big on games. Ma’s huge dining room table sat a lot of people, and we’d get together and break out the latest game to tickle our fancies - Trivia Pursuit. To make the game go faster so we could get our kids in bed, we’d play as partners. Linda and hubby Russ, Lori and hubby Steve, brother Ron and his then-wife Nancy, Ma and Dad, and Ken and I would select our partners, roll up our sleeves and prepare to become that night’s geniuses.
Shameful as it is to admit, we were just competitive enough not to want Ma as our partner in the game. She was adorable, but she had a habit of blurting out the first answer that popped into her head, and it was always wrong. Rule was the partners could confer, agree on an answer, then respond, but the first answer counted. Ma never conferred, she just blurted, and that blurt counted. One night I think Ma was Steve’s partner. Dad read the question:
“Who painted ‘Blue Boy’?
“Thomas Gainsborough!” Ma shouted. Steve just groaned. Dad was laughing as he flipped the card to find that the correct answer was indeed Thomas Gainsborough. He laughed even harder. With dignity Ma excused herself and went upstairs to the bathroom. We waited for her in stunned silence, except for an occasional giggle and “Can you believe this? Misses every easy answer and gets that one “ None of us self-proclaimed geniuses knew the right answer but Ma somehow did.
She came back downstairs and sat down at the table. “You know, the whole time I was sitting up there I was trying to figure out how I knew that. I still don’t know.”
Believe me, not one of us have ever forgotten who painted ‘Blue Boy’. And that night is a memory that pops up every once in awhile at get-togethers. Well, last week Katie and I went with Ken to a couple of his visitations. We had a couple of games with us to keep us entertained while the men were having their meeting. We were escorted to the sitting room area and I had to stop and stare. Right in front of me on the wall was a print of ‘Blue Boy’! I just started grinning. There I was, getting ready to pass a little time playing games with Katie LaVonne, (named after Ma) under a print of ‘Blue Boy’, hung on the wall between the drapes identical those that Ma had always been so proud of in her house!
They say that our loved ones in Heaven are always sending subtle messages to those of us here on earth. Um, not very subtle, Ma!!
Oh and you know I loved the pics
