Roles

Inspirational song: I Say a Little Prayer (Dionne Warwick)

There really aren't enough metaphorical spoons on the planet for me to clean my whole house at once. I have to work it in small bites. But bit by bit, I'm making some progress. I kept pushing at it all day today, thinking that the game was going to be here again this week. It was not until straight up seven pm (our stated start time, that we rarely meet) that I learned it would be next door. I mean, it's not a huge surprise. The new lady of the house next door is very allergic to cats. But she had stated that she wanted to start getting exposure to them little by little, so she could build up a tolerance (same theory as allergy immunotherapy shots). So I thought tonight was the first attempt. 

By the time it was decided to go next door, I was used up. I was cranky and sore and I caved in and took my first pain pill since I started this brutal diet. Then I packed up my chicken and vegetables (actually bruschetta chicken and fresh pickles), and trudged over there. I was too sore for the first hour even to be able to hold the baby. Eventually I loosened up, and got some quality grandma time.

In this game, my daughter plays a character who is a cat accidentally enchanted by a sorcerer, who can transform himself into an 8 year old human boy. She plays him with all of the personality quirks of both a child and a cat. My character is a very large woman (tall, that is, an Amazon), who feels like she needs to keep taking all these smaller creatures under her protection, including the cat-boy, the halfling, and the new gnome who recently showed up in need. Today, she felt compelled to follow the cat as he split from the party exploring a snaking set of caves, to make sure he didn't get in over his head. I played it like I was chasing Harvey around the house, rattling a treat bag and whistling, until I found him, and then calling him by the obnoxious nickname we use when Harvey is hard to catch ("shitgibbon"). As both my daughter and I really commit to this role play, by the time I got home, I felt like I needed to chastise Harvey, who really hadn't gone anywhere, at least not in the last few hours. Need to do better separating game from reality.