My Life on Park Place

Life on Park Place

         I was a hot summer afternoon back in 1980 that my life changed.  I didn’t know it that day, but as I grow older and have time to reflect, I know now that my life changed on that day.
         I sat in my grandmother’s house, sprawled out on the floor trying to stay cool, picking at the bright orange 1970’s shag carpet. Giving audible signals to those around me that I was a bored teenager about to blow a gasget by releasing pressure with each heavy sigh. I glanced over at my Uncle Larry who was reading a newspaper in the recliner, and gave a sigh in his direction.
         I don’t recall what my mother and grandmother were doing at the time, but history tells me they were most likely hiding out back smoking away from the eyes of my Uncle Larry. 
         He is the only person; I ever saw my mother and grandmother actually hide from when they smoked.  It wasn’t that they would get a “talking to” about smoking, it was more out of respect and the fact that my Uncle Larry would disapprove.  I wondered in the past, why they were so concerned about his approval or disapproval, but as I got to know my Uncle Larry I became aware that I craved his approval as well. 
         Uncle Larry is one of those people that when you mention his name, everyone knows who he is.  They respect him, and appreciate his strong beliefs of right and wrong.  Too look at him in passing, he seems very serious.  A large built man over six feet tall.  You hardly notice that he walks with a cane, because of the way he carries himself when he walks into a room.
         If there was a crowd in the room, you could spot him immediately.  Not because he commands attention, but because he is just one of those people you are drawn too.  He has an aura of intelligence and strength with a touch of don’t mess with me.  He is one of the few people I’ve ever met, that you could hand him an instrument, and give him a half an hour and he could play you a tune.  He is one of those extremely smart people, who should be on Jeopardy, but would never go on a TV show to show off his intelligence. 
                I used to think, that he must have had it easy in school, because he had to have been born with a huge IQ to be as smart as he was.  I used to think life had to have been easy for him growing up because he picked up things so quickly.  But, one look at his cane, always reminded me that his life was far from easy and everything he was and achieved was because of hard work and dedication.
         When he speaks his voice is deep and soothing.  When he says things, you can never really tell if he is serious or not.  I learned soon to watch his eyes, because he would always give me a wink when he was pulling someone’s leg.  It was always fun for me to watch him interact with others, and they would always take him so serious, lots of “yes sir” and “no sirs”, but most of the time they never realized he was joking with them.
         His sense of humor always made me laugh.  I would always wish for someone to come to the door preaching gospel whenever he was in town.  He is the type that would quiz them on their bible knowledge and send them scurrying away with a pat on the head and an invitation to return when they actually could answer his bible facts quiz.
         I tended to stick like glue to his side, anytime he was around.  I just wanted to be with him, listen to the things he said, hear the off the wall stories he always has and watch for the wink to tell me if the story was true or not.
         I remember looking over to Uncle Larry that hot summer day and rolling onto my knees with a heavy sigh.  He peeked over the newspaper at me. 

“I’m soooo bored Uncle Larry” I said. 
“Hmm…really? You’re sure you’re bored”?  He replied.
“Yes, It’s so hot and boring” I grunted adding a touch of melodrama to my voice.
“Well….are you up to playing a game”?  He asked.
“Sure, what do you want to play?”  I said hopping to my feet.

Games were always big in our family.  Larry and his siblings all grew up in the farmlands of Eastern Washington, and they always made a point of telling all of us nieces and nephews about how there was no TV, just your brains to keep you occupied. 

I loved to play games, at the time, and the thought of just me and my uncle Larry playing a game sounded fun.  Or so I thought at the time.

“How about Monopoly?”  He inquired.

“Monopoly, I love Monopoly…I’ll go get it”. I squealed.

We quietly sat together and set up the game.  Uncle Larry would of course be the banker, because I hated having the distraction of having to manage the bank instead of just playing the game. 

We sat there for about an hour.  Playing Monopoly.  I giggled when he landed in Jail and I passed him by.  He presented a sly smile every time I landed on one of his properties. 

Little did I know, my life was about to change.  My sweet loving Uncle Larry was about to turn into the Donald Trump of Washington State. 

Before I knew it the little green houses on the board were slowly replaced with red mega hotels.  The safe zones on the board became smaller and a glance down at the property I owned told me my holdings were small in comparison to the gluttony of land that laid before him. 

The panic started to set in.  I tried to make an excuse to end the game quickly, but agreed to continue when Uncle Larry reminded me that we never get to spend quality time together like we were, since he wasn’t in town frequently.

As we rolled the dice, and continued around the board, I watched my Monopoly life savings dwindle away to nothing.  The railroads ceased to bring in any income, and Virginia place was useless as he always seemed to roll right past it. 

The chance cards seemed to make my situation even more dire as I seemed to be drawing every “pay taxes” card there were in the pile.  My properties were all mortgaged to pay the evil little Monopoly man with the oversized mustache.

I looked at Uncle Larry and he sat with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. 

When I looked at the board, I saw what he was smiling about.  There were exactly nine spaces between me and Go.  Nine little spaces between me and $200.00. 

In between me and Go were properties.  The most expensive properties on the board, and Uncle Larry had managed to build hotels on each and every one of them. 

It was my turn.  I held the dice so hard I could feel the corners digging into my palm.  I asked Uncle Larry if we could quit one more time and he waved off my suggestion with a small sweeping motion with his massive hand. 

“Roll the dice” he said stifling a laugh. 

I held my breath and let my fate fall gently from my hands.  The world seemed to move in slow motion as I watched the dice fall to the board with a gentle thud.  The first dice fell as five.  The second dice seemed to dance on its edge, for a moment I hoped it would stay that way so I could roll again.  Then it fell.  Three!!! 

“NO!!” I moaned…”Not three!!” 

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, defeat!!  Park place.  I landed right on Park Place!! 

“Arg!, looks like you win Uncle Larry, no way I can pay that.”  I said as I started to get up. 

“Hey, were do you think your going?” he said while resting his hand on my arm.  “The game is not over yet, you haven’t paid me.”

“What?  You’re joking right?”  I said laughing, “I don’t have enough money to pay you”.  I waived my hand above my money and property to show him what was left.

“You don’t know that for sure, start counting young lady” he said sitting back in his chair.

I felt the tears come to my eyes.  I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t just let the game end.  He wanted to put me through the misery to the very last moment of the game.

I sat there, counting out my money, and mortgaging what little property I had left and managed to come up with enough to pay him his fee for landing on his property.  I tried to hide my tears as I paid him.  My Uncle Larry was never cruel, and this seemed to be so cruel.  I kept thinking, gosh…I’m just a little girl, show some mercy.
“There” I said as I handed him his money and stifled my sniffles.

“Well now, looks like you had enough to keep playing after all huh?”

I looked down and there before me were two lousy one dollar Monopoly bills.  Two dollars and not one piece of property left.  He owned the whole board now.

He rolled the dice and took his turn, then handed the dice to me.

“Are you kidding Uncle Larry? The game is over. You own the whole board and I have two dollars!  You want me to roll again?”

“Yep” he said quietly. “Roll the dice”

There was no hiding the tears at this point.  This was complete humiliation.  I rolled the dice and landed on one of the few properties that didn’t have a hotel. 

“There, I snipped “you win” and got up to leave the table.

He calmly asked me to sit down and proceeded to take $200.00 from the bank, and place it in his pile of loot, and took the two remaining dollars from my side of the board.

I sat wiping the tears from my eyes in humiliation of defeat and for letting my Uncle Larry see me cry.

“Do you understand why I made you keep playing” he asked softly.

“No…No I don’t why wouldn’t you just let me quit” I sniffled.

“I know you may not understand right now, but you will some day.”  He leaned forward and put his arm around my shoulders. 

“I just need you to know; that no matter how bad things look, you can’t quit the game… the game is only over when it is over.  It will always be that way in life, someday you will understand”

Looking back, he was right.  I didn’t understand that day.  That day, I just thought it was a crappy game of Monopoly. 

It’s a big joke in the family about the day Uncle Larry made me cry playing Monopoly and about the fact that I will play any board game in the world except Monopoly to this day. 

But I know now that it was never a joke and it was never just a game.  Uncle Larry saw a chance to teach me something and although I’m a slow learner I did learn.  As I grew older, and things in life would go bad, I would always remember that I couldn’t quit.  There was always a different reason why I couldn’t quit, but I just knew deep down no matter what, quitting wasn’t an option. 

When things seem hopeless, I just remind myself that we are all living on Park Place, and the game isn’t over, until it’s over.

Now, as an addendum to my story, my Uncle Larry has been proving again to me and the others around him, that the Monopoly lesson applies to not only me but us all. 

For the past several years, he has been fighting cancer.

I have often asked God, why of all people he would choose my Uncle Larry to go through this awful awful thing.  Why would God choose this man, who has never smoked or drank or so much as swore his whole life? 

I don’t think we will ever know why.  But I do know, that Uncle Larry lives the life lessons he teaches. 

Over the past few years he has been told the game was over.  By doctors, by nurses, by others who don’t know him. 

Those of us who know him though, know that the game is never over.  No matter how much pain or weakness he continues to play.  The dice roll, and he lands on Park Place, but he rolls again and continues to play.  He assures those around him, that he will be fine, and tells jokes and winks his eye. 

I don’t think that the people around him even realize how much he is changing their lives, and that one day, they will look back and realize that he taught them how to play the game as well. 

But look out world…No one plays Monopoly or life better then Uncle Larry,