Since school kicked back up, everyone is in “serious stress” mode.  For the guys, it’s another grade, another challenge.  For Ron and I, it’s squeezing two pounds of sand into a one-ounce hourglass!

The other night, we found ourselves ‘in between’ the frenzy of homework and extra-curricular events.  You could feel the pressure floating in the air (sort of an oppressive color of burgundy/black) and I recognized it was time for us to ‘lighten up’.   More accurately, the Hirn Fam needed to spend some time ‘being Goofy.’    Sounds like a fairly simple directive, but nobody easily drops into ‘being goofy-mode’ on command.   Tyler had already moved on from homework and had dug his tendrils into his Play Station’s ‘Destiny’ and Trenton and Colton were just anxious to escape and find their own fun.

“Game night,” I declared.  And for the thousandth time they looked at their mom as only a disgusted man/child can.  It was easy getting the two younger guys interested in a game of Euchre, which for those of you who don’t know, is a trick-taking card game using standard playing cards.  With a bit of coaxing, Colton dragged his teenaged brother into some friendly competition.  Colton knew he could beat Tyler, and Tyler finally took the bait.

The beauty of this game is that it is fast!  There is no dress code or gaming table.  We slung the deck of cards on the bed,  each of us grabbed a space, and for forty-five minutes we played hard. Nobody tried being Goofy – it just happened.

Never be in too much hurry to let each family member run off to  ‘wind down’ electronically after their hard work has finished.    Encourage a good game of cards, or Farkle or Scrabble.  Recruit!   The laughs you take away are well worth the sarcastic eye-rolls you get at first.   And game playing is one of the purest forms of AWE, with heavy emphasis on the Engagement part.    All of us need an audience when we are  being Goofy!

Dawn