Friday, December 16, 2011

A tribute to Jamie

It was my mother-in-law's 60th birthday yesterday and for the celebration I wrote a story for her about my favorite Jamie moment. I thought I would share it here since it is pretty cute:

My favorite Jamie moments are centered around her theatrics. At the top of the list was the night Dwight and Jamie teamed up to play Evan and I in Cranium. We were half way through the game and the Jamie/Dwight team was trailing behind. They needed a big win to get them back in the game. Jamie was up. She rolled the dice and advanced to a green space indicating she would need to act or hum the clue on the card for Dwight to guess. The card was pulled and there was a moment of silence as Jamie concentrated on the task at hand. A moment later Jamie read out loud the rules on the card indicating she would need to act out an action clue. The timer was flipped and the show began!

Dwight, Evan and I watched in anticipation. Jamie began by slapping her hands on her belly. Unable to make any sounds or speak she continued to slap her stomach. Without a response from her partner, she tried a different approach and rubbed her hands over her head and down to her feet This prompted Dwight who said "rubbing?" and then "ummm . . . what?" Jamie continued the show by patting her shoulders and then her legs. She started the familiar routine of sweeping her hands from her head down to her toes with growing frustration. Dwight was silent except for an occasional "what?". The grains of sand had slipped through the narrow squeeze of the hour glass indicating the passing of time. The answer would have to be discovered soon, time was running out.

To Jamie's relief Dwight guessed, "body!" Jamie's eyes widened as she nodded her head in excitement. But it wasn't over, the answer was an action clue and body is a noun. Jamie had looked down at the floor and hesitated for a moment before flinging her entire body down onto the hardwood floors in the living room. She had performed a belly flop which made the pieces of the board game jump into the air and had us all agasp. Evan and I peered over the rim of the coffee table to discoverJamie swimming on the floor with determination. It wasn't long before she popped back up onto her feet and began waving her hands in the air. Dwight was still in a state of shock from the daredevilish dive Jamie performed when Jamie had turned to Dwight and put her hands up into the air indicating a silent, "well?"

Dwight said, "what?" Jamie had thrown her hands back down to her side and again was airborn. The thud shook us as we all stared in puzzled amazement. Jamie ran through the routine and when she again was standing on her feet turned to Dwight indicating he needed to guess something, anything! But the only words that left Dwight were "what?" between wheezing sputters of laughter. Jamie had turned red in the face from her laberous routine which did not produce a single guess from her partner.

Up and down, up and down Jamie soared threw the air as the three of us were struggling for breath, our diaphrams quaked with laughter. None of us had taken notice that all the sand was resting in the lower half of the hour glass. Jamie had labored in vain but her courageaous efforts we applauded. After we had regained control of our breathing and wiped the tears of joy from our eyes we asked almost in unison, "What was the answer?". Jamie tight lipped said, "body boarding" before sitting next to Dwight who she gave a playful slap. Dwight again broke out into laugher and exclaimed one last "WHAT!?!" which caused Jamie to dart a glare in her partners direction.

Needless to say, Evan and I won the game of Cranium and pleeded with Dwight and Jamie to play another round. Jamie agreed on the conditions that we switched partners.

Happy Birthday Jamie!

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