Taking a Break - Settlers of Catan

I think I have said (or at least I believe) that to stay sane through law school I have to try to maintain balance in my whole life. So yesterday I spent the whole evening at home playing Settlers of Catan with my family. I was introduced to this game by one of my husband's cousins and I loved it right from the beginning. We bought it for ourselves and last night played one of the expansion pack games, The Fishermen of Catan. It is from the Traders & Barbarians set.

The goal of the game is to get to a certain number of points by building settlements, cities and gaining bonus cards like "Longest Road," "Largest Army," or "Harbourmaster." You roll the dice to see what resources you get and then use the resources to build things or trade with other players. It is quite simple and complex all at the same time. There is a board that you make up (which is a different configuration each time you play) that has hexes (tiles) for resources (wheat, ore, sheep, wood and brick). A number is put on each resource tile. When that number is rolled, the resources are handed out in accordance with who has settlements or cities built around that resource.

I finally figured out that I did not have a very good strategy. I would try to ensure that I had the possibility of a variety of resources regardless of the number on the resource. I realized this was not as good as making sure I was by numbers that get rolled more often. Even if I ended up with a lack of one resource, if I had other resource cards I could eventually gain the resources I was missing. But if I had bad numbers that never get rolled, I didn't have any resources to work with, and that was much harder.

While this means that I didn't get some of my reading done, or any CANS worked on, I did have an amazingly wonderful time sitting around enjoying some of the people I love the most. My daughter was out at a sleepover, so it was just my husband, my son and myself. But I really enjoyed seeing how much my son has grown up. He will be 12 in less than a month. And sometimes I see that he is still and kid, and sometimes I see him gaining in maturity. I often call my kids my blessings and treasures from heaven. And I am privileged to see the grown ups they are becoming.

Oh, don't get me wrong, all you parents who have or have gone through the teen years. I realize this brief reprise may not last long and soon I will be dealing with extreme moodiness and the belief that parents are stupid and teenagers are all-knowing. I am trying to be mentally prepared for it and hope we all come out the other end relatively unscathed.

But in the meantime I am going to tuck away an evening of laughing and playing with my family to a place where I can pull it out when I am completely stressed about exams or whatever law school has thrown at me. And I will remember that this, too, shall pass.