Finding Joy

So, what are you doing for fun these days?

Among other things, my wife and I used to travel a lot and go to amusement parks. Both of those are reduced greatly or out altogether under current conditions, although I must admit we are planning a camping trip in a couple of weeks. That seemed safe to us. The campsite is isolated. The walking trails are easy to maintain social distance on and we always washed our hands after bathroom breaks anyway, so it should be a trip fairly close to normal, whatever that is these days.

The new thing I picked up was playing strategy games with my son via email. He found an application that people have been using to create boards and pieces from old Avalon Hill strategy/wargames. I taught him to play a game called Victory in the Pacific when he was a teenager and we tend to play it whenever one of us visits the other to this day. Over the last few weeks, we played several games over email – sending our turns back and forth and talking a little smack on the log file and over text messages.

I didn’t realize how much I missed playing these games and the joy it brought until we started playing. I searched online and found a copy of another Avalon Hill game, Third Reich, and have been playing it as well. The great thing about playing these games is that you don’t have to be in a crowded area to have fun. You can do it from the computer and still interact with others. I’m sure others have a ball playing PlayStation or Xbox, but that is not where I find my fun. In my case, it’s a long-lost hobby that I’ve rediscovered.

What joy from the past have you rekindled as a result of COVID induced semi-isolation?

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