Through my ESN and my general extrovertedness, I have become what I like to call a “tri-county celebrity.”  That mostly means that I am widely regarded as a jolly good feller, and I have standing invitations to come and eat at several houses around the area.  In fact the residents of some households are almost miffed at me because I haven’t graced them with my presence and my appetite.

One household where I had an open invitation that I had not used was the Brett and Shawna Hansen family west of New Underwood.  A month or two ago, I attended church in New Underwood, and since they were there and it was a beautiful Sunday, I more or less invited myself to dinner.  Brett Hansen happens to be my banker; you know you’re cool when you can invite yourself to Sunday dinner at the banker’s house.

Anyway, I went out there after church.  It was an absolutely gorgeous Sunday, so while Brett and Shawna fixed dinner, most of the five kids took turns giving me tours of the pastures, and the garage, and the house, until finally I ended up at the kitchen counter with an ever-full cup of coffee in my hand.

I hadn’t spent any time with Josiah, the youngest, so pretty quick here he came with a board game he wanted to play with me.  The game was called “Gobbler,” a more interesting version of tic-tac-toe, with sixteen spaces instead of nine, and concentric pegs so you could cover your opponents moves.

I am not really a board game kind of guy, but this particular game was rather fascinating, and I was just sitting there drinking coffee anyway, so I began to have a really good time playing Gobbler.  When Josiah wasn’t babbling away, some other member of the family would think of something to talk about as they hustled around getting dinner ready.

Josiah is maybe six or seven, and I am twenty-nine, so in the course of the game, I had several opportunities to win, but I was having so much fun that I would give him time to correct his mistakes, in big brotherly fashion.

So I was playing along having a high old time when I myself made a mistake.  I actually realized it mid-move, but I decided to play it anyway.  Josiah looked at the board and instantly pounced on the open space with a look of glee.

“I saw that I could move there and win, so I did,” he explained very seriously to me.  “Because it just doesn’t make any sense to lose on purpose!”

No Josiah, it certainly does not.