When a family of women who haven't seen each other for a long time get together there is a lot of showing and telling. ("Did I show you the cute shoes I bought last fall?" or "Have I told you about what happened on the plane?" or "Come see the new paint in the guest bath. I had so much trouble choosing a color." ) Men, however, have a different way of catching up--they compete. It seems imperative for men of all ages to know exactly where they stand in the familial pecking order. Mark, being athletically gifted, usually does very well in these rivalries and has earned, shall we say, a bit of a reputation. My dad actually lamented the fact that Mark had not made it to California in time to play basketball against my newest, much younger, brother-in-law so that Dad could enjoy beating Mark by proxy. It's a similar story at Mark's house with each of Mark's three brothers trying to find some sport in which they can beat him. Naturally, our time with the Petruckas held lots of competition and some surprising results.
The biggest upset occurred in ping-pong when Mark crushed his younger brother David. David was the favorite going in, as he actually owns a ping-pong table and Mark hadn't played since their last match, two years ago, when David won. But, two days before we left her house for Utah, my mom went out and bought a ping-pong table so that Tim and Mark could play a few games. (Apparently she has always wanted one and this was as good an excuse as any.) Medical school taught Tim a few things about ping-pong, and after a few rounds with Tim, Mark had honed his game enough to put David away. David claims his disappointing performance was due to the fact that his new daughter was keeping him up at night, but I think that's just sour grapes.
Later in the week, all the Petrucka brothers (and sister) were creamed in a family game of laser tag by our 13-year-old cousin Isaac. The kids and I had never played laser tag but Aunt Page was kind enough to show us the ropes and deck us all out in really tough 'do-rags. After all, if you can't win you might as well look good playing! The girls and I didn't stand a chance but we had a good time. Brandon was having fun until the end when he got his score and found out that he didn't do as well as he'd thought, and Bryce was kind of intimidated by the darkness and basically shadowed Mark the whole game. At the end, the loosing dads once again blamed their poor performances on their kids. Mark complained that he couldn't really play (even though he managed to shoot me 12 times!) because he had to help Bryce. While there may be some truth in that, and I must admit that I did get one of my two hits on Mark when he was comforting Bryce after Bryce banged into a wall, I think that after laser tag, all the dads realized that their boys are getting older their days on top are numbered.
The biggest upset occurred in ping-pong when Mark crushed his younger brother David. David was the favorite going in, as he actually owns a ping-pong table and Mark hadn't played since their last match, two years ago, when David won. But, two days before we left her house for Utah, my mom went out and bought a ping-pong table so that Tim and Mark could play a few games. (Apparently she has always wanted one and this was as good an excuse as any.) Medical school taught Tim a few things about ping-pong, and after a few rounds with Tim, Mark had honed his game enough to put David away. David claims his disappointing performance was due to the fact that his new daughter was keeping him up at night, but I think that's just sour grapes.
Later in the week, all the Petrucka brothers (and sister) were creamed in a family game of laser tag by our 13-year-old cousin Isaac. The kids and I had never played laser tag but Aunt Page was kind enough to show us the ropes and deck us all out in really tough 'do-rags. After all, if you can't win you might as well look good playing! The girls and I didn't stand a chance but we had a good time. Brandon was having fun until the end when he got his score and found out that he didn't do as well as he'd thought, and Bryce was kind of intimidated by the darkness and basically shadowed Mark the whole game. At the end, the loosing dads once again blamed their poor performances on their kids. Mark complained that he couldn't really play (even though he managed to shoot me 12 times!) because he had to help Bryce. While there may be some truth in that, and I must admit that I did get one of my two hits on Mark when he was comforting Bryce after Bryce banged into a wall, I think that after laser tag, all the dads realized that their boys are getting older their days on top are numbered.
2 comments:
mark can thank me later for the crash course i gave him in "being super awesome at ping-pong." clearly, his time spent with me was worthwhile.
Yes, Tim, the victory was largely due to the practice I had with you.
That being said, I was really in the zone while I played David - much more so that when I played you.
I think I'm ready for a re-match...
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