Thoughts on Chutes and Ladders

Whoever created the game Chutes and Ladders did not have children.

Things started out innocently enough. "Mom? After dinner can we play Chutes and Ladders?" Emma asked. I answered, "Yes". Emma brought up the game and set it up. I stated, "I bet this game will last at least a half an hour." If you've ever played Chutes and Ladders you know why I said that. You think you're doing well because you've landed on the big ladder and climbed up towards the top of the board. But then on your next turn you end up sliding back down to level three. Thus the game starts to rival Monopoly in length.

Anyway, I was wrong. The game lasted 5 minutes. This was because I somehow managed to avoid every slide, even the dreaded top row. Emma was dejected. As soon as I got near the top she said, "You're going to win [said with a frown]," Afterwards I asked her if she wanted to play again. She said she did so we started a new game. Well this time Emma was destined to hit every slide on the board. I didn't think her frown could get any worse, but I was wrong again. It didn't take long for me to win once more. Emma's enthusiasm to play completely fizzled.

Now if you have children and you also own this game you're probably thinking to yourself, "That's happened to us SO many times!" or something to that affect. Because it's very true; this game is incredibly depressing, especially for children. The box says "An Exciting Up and Down Game for Little People!" It ought to say "A Game to Teach Your Children the Joys of Losing!" What were the developers thinking when they created all those slides? Something like this: "Oh! I have the PERFECT idea for a kids' game! Let's make a game where the kid thinks they're about to win, but then we'll make it so that they have to basically start all over again from the beginning. We'll then let them THINK they're going to have a chance at winning, but instead we'll keep squishing their hopes of a victory like it's a detestable bug. Oh man! They'll love it!!"

I think Chutes and Ladders will be going back on our basement game shelf to collect dust again for quite some time.

My List of Grievances

Scene of the crime: Sowers house
Victim: Me
Culprit: black rug by the back door
Offense: a wet sock
Verdict: GUILTY!

Last week I was walking to the closet by the back door when it happened: I stepped on a wet spot on the rug and got a wet sock. Right away I said aloud, "Uh! I HATE when that happens!" David heard me and asked what my problem was, and upon being told he agreed; wet socks are a pain.

But after this happened I started to think of other things that bother me. So I started to compile a list of occurrences that annoy me. At first I found it kind of funny, but after awhile I realized that a lot of those annoyances were actually opportunities for me to show patience. I often pray that God would grant me patience, and I see now that what He gives me are ample chances for me to demonstrate patience. (Prayer answered!) ☺

I decided to post this list so we can all get a chuckle, but also so we can see the opportunities that God gives us to respond to irksome situations in a way that glorifies Him.

Some of my grievances:

• wet socks (this was worth mentioning twice)
• leaving a room and forgetting something in that room
• walking into a room and forgetting why you came in there in the first place
• slow computers
• slow Internet connection
• sitting down and getting comfortable and then realizing you left the TV remote across the room
• getting snuggled in bed and then a cat jumps on the bed and you remember that you didn't check to see if there were any cats in the room before you got into bed
• waking up 5 minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off
• pens that don't work
• when every channel/radio station plays commercials at the same time
• the sound of a cat with a hair ball
• going to the cupboard to eat a snack only to find the box is empty but has been left in its place
• when a person parked and took up two stalls
• shopping carts left in the parking lot and not returned to the corral
• when your rubber band breaks
• washing your car and then it rains the next day
• when you're eating marshmallow cereal and you get down to the last few bites only to have run out of the marshmallow bits
• knowing you're going to be late
• having to pay late fees