I was looking at a somewhat fuzzy picture recently that was dated December, 1986. It was a picture of our daughter, Danielle, opening up some of her Christmas presents for that year. She was two months shy of her fourth birthday. Among the My Little Ponies, stuffed animals, and homemade embroidered pillowcases, there was an innocent game—Memory. It was the basic edition with 72 matching pictures of butterflies, kites, balls, bunnies, etc. (FYI, It was the kid’s version that the TV game show Concentration was based on.) The pictures have changed over the years, and like Monopoly, has been remade in the likeness of various subjects, like Disney characters, Sesame Street characters, and such. Still, that innocent game revealed an interesting fact—that Mom doesn’t have any—memory, that is. Actually it wasn’t just me….

After everything was opened and the wrapping paper put away, we asked the kids if they wanted to play a game of Memory. Absolutely! We cleared a space on the table, broke the pieces apart and then laid them out, making sure the cards were somewhat mixed up. After all, Danielle wasn’t four years old yet. We didn’t want her to feel taken advantage of. We needn’t have worried. Our daughter is the Ken Jennings of Memory. We really mixed the cards up the second time. She won again.

I really can’t remember her ever losing a game of Memory. We wore out several sets over the years and not too long ago bought one from the Great Smoky National Park gift center. That one is hard and definitely for adults! We figured she had met her match. We set it up at her house a few months ago and everyone gathered around to play. She beat us all. Her husband, her kids, me, and her dad. She pulled up matches for Arches National Park, Yosemite, Mesa Verde, and other places without batting an eyelash. And at the end of the game she counted up her cards with a great big grin on her face. Too bad there isn’t a Memory competition somewhere, our daughter would clean up.

Susan Kite is a member of Author’s Guild of Tennessee and has five books published, four through World Castle Publishing. You can check out her books at: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00J91G0ZU/