Croquet

My mom has purchased a croquet set and is hounding all of us to come play with her.  I do not want to, but it reminds me so much of the same situation I had with Bocce Ball ( I think we actually played once and then I sold it at a garage sale), that I am going to go over and play with her.  Which reminds me of the last time I played croquet.  My ex-husband Derek had just donated a kidney to his 15 year old cousin, and we were staying at his now deceased grandmothers house so the two boys could heal together.  His grandma had a croquet set.  I remember vividly her beautiful garden that she so painstakingly took over working on even with pretty severe arthiritis, after his grandfather passed away.  She maintained a compost pile, and mowed the huge lawn by herself on the riding mower.  She had a terrific sense of humor and loved games.  Especially croquet.

After his grandfather passed away, she began to spend more time with her friends, volunteered at the local hospital, and got a new puppy.  She used to dress up for Halloween, even though there were never any trick-or-treaters on her large piece of property, and take pictures of herself to email to the rest of the family.  I could never figure out how she got all the Xmas decorations, which included outside lights along the roof, up by herself.  She made us all something special every year for Xmas, and the last thing we got before Derek and I divorced was a lavishly made wooden board game.  It was probably one of the best gifts I have ever received.  She was an amazing woman.  Anyway, on to croquet.

So Derek was still healing from surgery and taking large amounts of pain pills, and today he had decided he wanted to have a real drink.  Vodka cranberry.  Ok, just one.  The combination scared me a bit, but he was an adult.  I could tell his grandmother was not exactly comfortable with it either.  But Derek always had a rebellious nature, and honestly, I think I liked that about him.  So we were playing croquet and we were laughing, and he was pretty goofy from the med/alcohol combo, and I think that may have been one of the last times we were happy.  Then Derek went in to make another drink, and this irritated me, and the moment, along with the croquet game, were over.