Garage Game Play Throwback...Felt Like It was the Early 1990s. Late Night. Silliness. Stupidity. Laughter.

You sunk my battleship.

The first few years I was away at college, summer nights (when I returned home) became an occasion for gathering in the garage over games of Pitch, Dweebs, Geeks, and Weirdos, Claim To Fame, Pictionary, and other games -mostly turned into drinking games. Cool nights led to relaxed evenings and it was fun to unite with family and friends with a little competitive spirit. I remember some nights Bill Patrick would come over with his guitar and play music and we could always count on Karl for a Budweiser or 2 or 8 or 16 or 32. That was summer on Amalfi Drive in our 20s, and I'm still wondering how my parents went to sleep and tolerated it.

Last night, a garage sale find of Battleship became an evening of intensity between Patrick and Chitunga. The seriousness in which they battled (Patrick took the series) was hilarious, strategic, intense, and amusing. They were at war, and I loved watching their youth, their calm, their care-freeness, their competitiveness, and their absolute joy for being in a garage on a summer night.

It reminded me of Cherry Heights and what seems like yesterday - all we needed was the sun to go down and then the people would gather in a garage for games.

I'm not sure if I recognized how precious those moments were then, but they were special. We never knew who would congregate, the refrigerator was always stocked, and the laughter would continue late into the night.

Of course, too, it helped that the temperature dropped drastically and it was one of those almost frigid nights in June. I love when we have those, especially before the humidity strikes.