~* Some of my favorite things... *~
...one being my youngest son teaching me chess <3. Well, more honestly, having him kick my ass at chess.
He has a wonderful logical mind, not quite so directly inherited from me I suspect, and the sweetest spirit of sportsmanship. Neither of us wants the other one to loose, so whatever we play, it lasts forever as we give each other tips and freebies.
Luca learned so much about chess during that awful summer when his beloved grandmother had gone through radical cancer surgery, and needed mostly to recover in bed. Independent in spirit, competitively sporty, highly social and intellectually vivid person that she is, making her stay (or at least lie down occasionally) in bed was my responsibility for the summer. Well, chess she loved. That summer, she introduced that love to Luca. They enrolled in daily chess matches, sitting on Mamie's bed, discussing strategy... I think he was only five at the time.
Me for my part, I know nothing. Where can this button go, I ask, and immediately forget.
But in Madeira last month, they had this wonderful life size chess board at the hotel, and Luca challenged me every day. Well, many times ever day.
We became known at the hotel as the mother-son chess team as other visitors came to watch my mistakes and his attempts to save my game... My favorite was when he asked me "Maman, I've never seen moves like this... Do you have a strategy behind this?".
Needless to say, none whatsoever.
My son was sweet enough to find that interesting <3.
Well, doing just about anything with him would go down on my list of my favorite thins to do *<3~...
~*~
The trust only a child's eyes can behold <3[/caption]