Aili Cleveland Cheats at Cards
by Kristin Neperud
Submitted: Monday, February 05, 2007
Aili Cleveland is my grandma, and I don't think it would be possible to love her more. There have been endless lessons to learn from her, but one that sticks out in my head more than the others.
One of my fondest memories of grandma is playing cards with her. We mostly played "Screw Your Neighbor" a rummy type of card game that allows you to screw over the person who's turn comes after you. (It's great fun.) As my grandma's eyesight worsened with macular degeneration we switch to what some people call "Spite and Malice" (my nephew renamed to "Spit in the Palace"). It doesn't take up as much of the table, so she could see it better.
As her eyesight was going, she would put down the wrong cards. Perhaps a 10 of clubs, jack of spades, and a queen of clubs when they were all suppose to be the same suit. To which we would all respond, "Hey! Wait a minute, are you cheating again? You can't play that!" She would "innocently" look at the cards then laugh at herself and pick them back up. Then she would usually look at her hand again and somehow manage to put down even more cards and win the game. Declaring, "Talk about reaching you hand into a barrel of sh@t and pulling out a diamond ring."
And how can you argue with that?
She is a lady who roles with the punches, changes her attitude and continues with a smile on her face. She could have been angry and bitter as her eyes got worse, but she kept playing with us and laughing at herself and going on. Those games meant more to me than if she had played them perfectly.
So if you ever get the chance, play cards with her. Watch her though, cause she cheats.