So, a few
years back I was in a restaurant with part of my wife’s extended family. At
this point in time we hadn’t been dating very long, so I didn’t really know who
anyone was. Across from me sat my wife’s uncle, a man with a bushy, black,
grey-streaked beard and a brightly coloured beanie (yellow and red, if I
remember correctly).
Partway
through the evening, after losing interest in the conversation of the rest of
the table, this man (who I hadn’t spoken to at all, since I’m kinda the shy
quiet type) gathered together two salt and two pepper shakers and put them in
the center of the table. He then gave me this serious, considering look, and
very deliberately moved one of the salt shakers on an angle to rest beside a
pepper shaker.
Not
entirely certain what was going on, or what the intended rules for this game
were, I decided to play along. After a moment of consideration, I moved a
pepper shaker to make the pattern of all the shakers relatively symmetrical.
My wife’s uncle
made an impressed face, nodding, as if this was a very cunning move. Then he
moved a salt shaker, and I followed up with a pepper shaker. This went on and
on, for probably half an hour or more. We never said a word to each other. We
just kept moving shakers, playing by whatever rules were implied by the other
player’s actions and aiming for imaginary goals that we weren’t entirely
certain of.
The game
came to an end when someone else at the table finally asked us what we were
doing. Playing a game, we replied. What were the rules? Oh, we’re just making
them up as we go along.
The magic
of the silent game was broken, there seemed no point in going on with it or
restarting now that it had been defined. But to this day, this was the most unique
– and I’d even say profound – way I’ve ever been introduced to someone. Strange
as the experience was, it was incredible – and the memory of it will stay with
me forever.
Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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