games/leftover

After everyone had moved out West, Lisa and I and the family was all that was left at North Branch. When church was over we would stand around waiting for mom to invite us over to eat roast and potatoes. As always, there would be left overs where mom would use what was around to make dad's lunch. It seemed that whatever the family ate on Sunday, dad would clean it up at lunch at work.
Mom was and is very good at leftovers. It has not rubbed off on me. As yummy as mom's leftovers are still, our leftovers stay in the fridge until they are growing extra leftovers: normally the green color kind w/the aroma that shouted: gotta go.
It was not just one leftover; but arrive at mom's house at any time, and your meal consisted of 1/2 spoonful of corn, a scoop of jello, a slice of bread w/several types of spreads, a side of meatloaf, w/some spaghetti in a small cup, a choice of water, milk, a few sips of different flavored punch to wash it all down, along w/the main course.
After eating, there were many times where dad was not around and Lisa, mom, and I would play 3 handed rummy. I can not over exaggerate just how many times I won, and by a large margin. I can remember one time that after I won w/only 5 points (the less points the better), that Lisa and mom were out to get me, only to have me win again w/just 5 points. They thought I was cheating of course. But those 3 handed games we played were always so fun. Until a year ago or so, I thought that Lisa and I and the kids got the better part of coming over for lunch after church. However now that we have Amy and Adrian nearby, it is always better for us to have them come over. It is nice to have family around. During many of these Sunday visits, mom and us would take a Sunday afternoon walk to the Historic Downtown of Somerville. Not the D' Allessio (sp?) side of town, but our .77 theatre side. They were some good times.
A memory of dad during the games: We were playing 4 handed rook, (always wishing we could play 5 handed to get the rook in the kitty), but while we were playing one of his dingbat students in the ward, how he called them, were needing to get into the church. Dad got up, and was getting ready to drive to the stake center to let them in, when at the last moment they called saying someone showed up and he was not needed. I remember thinking that if I was him, I would have told them "too bad", and "later dude", especially now that he was having fun w/us, just having come home from a long day at the church, and now to go right back just to let someone in. I know it is no surprise how dedicated dad and mom were to their callings. But this was silly to me. I learned from dads' example again w/out dad knowing he was teaching me at the time. W/my legendary memory skills, this obviously made a big impression. Thanks mom and dad for showing us/me what we/I wanted to become.