The maj group (now known as the women's group) was formed in effort to allow our group of women to have a weekly excuse to leave the house and not put their kids to bed. Ok, and to have wine. We wanted a social game. We wanted to eat guacamole (too much of it). We wanted our brains to be challenged. We learned this game which is a combination of luck and skill. Some of us have mastered it more than others. But the group over the past year has become much more than a forum for this (ever challenging) game.
It is a forum for ideas. For sharing. For relating. To help us all do better. And maybe even to be better. And no topic seems off limits.
We talk about things that are VERY superficial. Who will win the bachelor and why we continue to watch. What is set to record on the DVR. Who is the craziest of the housewives. What will be our new fall purse. Where are the best places to find bargains on things that we don't need that cost too much. About celebrities and movie premieres and US weekly.
We talk about things that are sort of superficial and sort of practical. How to make your hair straighter. Where to get a facial. About a new type of nail polish that probably is just the same as the old nail polish. About exercise and body woes.
We talk about all things baby. How to breast feed. How to swaddle. How to make it all work. What products you must have. How to make your husband help. How to soak in all that baby love.
We talk about taking care of the kids. What we buy at the grocery. What we pack in the kids lunches. What vegetables are a hit with those that refuse. About which dance class is best. About teachers and buses and mommy friends.
We talk about things that make us worry. About careers. About homes. About children. About husbands and marriages. About in laws. About families. About fertility. About life.
We give opinions. Ones that not you may not hear. The ones that are honest and real and straight forward. The kind of advice that can only be given when someone really gets the road you walk on.
And they get it because they listen. Every week as life goes by. On Monday night at 7:30 we pause, we play and we discuss. For a couple of hours that seem to go by on fast forward. Then we go home, and live.
Until the next week, when we do it all again.
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Do you have a group of women that you can bounce ideas off of?
What is your excuse for a get together?
Have you ever played Maj? [if not...you should start!]
What do you think of the 2010 card? [I hate it!]
2 comments:
I wish I had a group like this! Sounds so awesome. And I am going to check out maj right now...
best,
Tina
I used to be part of a bible study group for couples. I would always look forward to Wednesday nights because that's our schedule. But I'm now away from my husband, my friends, my bible group and I'm trying to raise 2 kids (sisters like yours)alone in a foreign country with a different culture. I wish I'd find a group like yours.
On maj, I have an exoerience with it. My late grandma was the Maj master. When I was in primary school, we would have 2 or 3 tables at home, all full of Maj players. They're men and women from the neighborhood doing what they call a "diversion". I didn't think it was just a diversion. I saw it was gambling plain and simple (which it was). My mom would stay on the Maj table until midnight (which never fails to cause trouble between her and my father) even if I needed help with my homework or with something else. I vowed never to learn the game. I am the only single adult I know from our street back in the province who does not know how to play. And it surprises others to know that I cannot play it because they'd always tell me, "But your grandma was the one who taught my mother who taught me!" Or "But i learned it from your mom!" There was a time, when I had my first child already, that I tried to learn it. But I cannot. My mind just refuses to understand the rules. The Rules of Court, the Penal Code, the Constitution even - they're easy-peasy for me. But not Maj. And thats just the way it is :)
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