Friday Night's

It is Friday. If this was the early 1980’s that would mean only one thing, that my brother and I would be spending the night at our Uncle Dan and Aunt Joanne’s house. My Mom would need a night off so, she would pawn us off on my Aunt on Uncle on those nights. Those evenings were legendary and I can look back at them as the main reason I still love playing cards. I learned so many card games on those nights.

There are so many great stories that it is hard to list my favorites. The night I accompanied my Uncle Dan to his brother’s house to play poker. Watching them play was a sociological learning experience. First was the inevitable argument before any game was played. It was usually a fifteen-minute discussion about the rules before any cards were dealt. Still, I learned a lot about how to play cards. I leaned how to bluff and when to play a hand and when no to. Then there were all the runs to White Castle late at night. Then of course there was the Uncle Dan chili.

My Uncle’s chili is the stuff of legends. My Aunt is not a fan of spicily food so, my Uncle usually would not be able to make it to his liking. However when Vince and I would come over he made it as hot as hell. I remember watching him combine everything in the pot as my brother and I waited for it to cook. Then when it was finally done we sat down to eat. It was so spicy that my brother and I were sweating like a hooker in church, but we kept eating it. Glass after glass of water was consumed in an effort to put out the fires in our mouths. After dinner there was more gas being dispensed in that Bridgeview front room then there was at the local refinery.

Since it was Friday, my brother and I got to stay up and watch SCTV or some other bad cable. We got to play with Maverick, my Aunt and Uncle’s German Shepard. That dog was like a giant to our adolescent asses. We also made friends with the Murillo’s who were the next-door neighbors. I played many a game of street, two-hand touch football with Matt and Sobie.

Eventually, I got older and I started spending Friday night’s out with my friends. Still, after all these years when I look back at those Friday nights of my youth, I look back with fondness. My brother and I were the first nephews for my Aunt and Uncle and because of that I think a bond was forever formed. We had so many good times and my brother and I often find ourselves re-telling some famous story from those evenings. I am so grateful that I got to know the Arp’s, (my uncle’s brothers.) In a youth in which I was surrounded by divorce, my Aunt and Uncle were always that stabilizing force. They are still together after all of these years when most would have probably bet against them. They are more then likely my model of how to sustain a successful marriage. And for that, I could never re-pay them.