My husband approached me last weekend with his (one of many) deck of cards and gave me a challenge: Take pictures and write a post about this deck.
Say what?
So, I racked my brain about how to spell "rack" (is there a "w," no "w?") and then I racked my brain about what to write (is there a "w," no "w?").
As usual, my mind was completely empty but for a song made popular by one my favorite rappers, Shawn Carter.
Then my mind started to wander. Are the cards like people and I am one of the cards? Do the cards represent different facets of my life? Can the mind exist without the cards when the cards can't exist without the cards? My ideas became very abstract... almost as abstract as the challenge itself.
So I stopped trying to be profound (and I use that term very loosely here) and simply stared at the cards... for a really long time... a whole week, in fact.
This particular deck has special meaning. There's really nothing intrinsically unique about the cards but my husband used them while learning card manipulation (they are even kept in a special case resembling a torture device when not in use). This is the deck he used to audition at the Magic Castle and the deck he used at a magic show for my niece's 1st birthday party. They are special, his toes... I mean, these cards.
And as I studied them more closely, I started to see the many creases and tears.
I thought about how many hours my husband spent, practicing with them. How he loves his craft and excels in it more than he admits. Then I started thinking about my husband and how he perpetually inspires me to practice what I love. How lucky I am, how well he suits me, how he doesn't let me get lost in the shuffle, how he helps me deal. How I wouldn't even have a blog if he hadn't set it up for me and didn't encourage me with random challenges.
So I guess this post didn't end up exactly on point... or even end up having a point. I guess it's less about the deck, itself, but rather about the man behind it. And how he makes these ordinary Poker Size Bee cards... super extraordinary. Well, that's what you get when you give me blog challenges. May this be a lesson to the rest of you (all none of you).
