Wacky Wednesday #85—Cards

Costumes are fun, but for me, the story behind the costume is often as much fun as what I’m wearing. Who doesn’t like a good story? Credit for today’s costume goes in large part to someone I’ve known more than thirty years. My dear friend Maia gave me these playing cards a couple of months ago. She took the trouble to package them, write a note about their Wacky Wednesday potential and mail them from her home, a nine hour drive away, to mine. But she’s like that. She always has gone the extra mile for her friends. The cards are smaller than standard. I didn’t ask Maia if they were airplane entertainment during one of her overseas trips, but they struck me as a travel sized deck of cards. (Maia, are they?)

Funny—cards could be the subject of a long blog post, independent from this costume. (But I’ll try to be brief. Ish.) Just off the top of my head, it seems to me that cards have many uses, meanings and histories. They are a device for connecting people. Or if you’re alone, you can entertain yourself by playing Solitaire. I associate cards with my dad, who taught me to play Gin Rummy when I was about nine or ten. He loves cards. A lot of people do. Card games were important to my 82-year-old neighbor, who recently passed. After her husband died she began playing cards twice a week with her girlfriends. The social connection over playing cards is probably a big part of why she lived a long and happy life. For some, card games are a way to relax. Hubby and his friends bond over poker games. Some people make a living off of playing cards in Vegas. Whether for work or fun, cards are played all over the world.

Even in a time when technology has made so many changes to how we spend our free time, people still love playing cards. Sure, online card games exist, but it seems meaningful that the paper cards are still used and loved. Besides, meeting in person over a real deck of cards just brings a certain something that an online card game does not.

Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh right: unusual hats.

When Maia sent these cards I immediately knew they would become a house of cards hat. Even the box holding the cards had potential. I cut the pictures of cards out of the box and glued them to my sunglasses. Add some earrings and a necklace and you’re either ready for Wednesday or ready for Las Vegas—or both.

You know I love the shadows my wacky hats make…

And on a related note, is it just me or do many card games have far too many rules? I want my recreation time to be simpler than my real life. I have enough trouble remembering three kids’ schedules and class assignments and all kinds of real life things like insurance and medical appointments—and this is important stuff that must be remembered. Why would I want my play time to involve a million things to remember and to be even more complicated than my real life? I guess Go Fish is my speed.

What’s your favorite card game?