Hmm. The last-year link in the sidebar over there (-->) is talking about gaming. We haven't gamed since before Penny was born, obviously, unless you count the Hall. Does the Hall count? It's certainly roleplaying, but is it gaming? Probably not, or else Matt wouldn't have complained that he missed gaming, back when we were only Halling.

I'm trying to decide if I miss gaming now. Of course, I was a little more ambivalent about gaming than Matt or K.T. were before, too. It was something to do, but I wasn't bothered if we did something else instead.

But then, I was enjoying that particular game quite a bit. I liked my character, and I liked the party.

It's probably a moot point. Penny is far too high-maintenance to let us game regularly, and it sounds like Jessica is starting to get to a point where she is demanding more and more attention from K.T. and Kevin. And even if it weren't for the babies, K.T. and Kevin are moving in a couple of months to Chesapeake, which is a good hour's drive from us, which would make weeknight gaming practically impossible, and there's always so much else we have to do on the weekends.

Maybe when the girls are older and can be left to play more or less unsupervised for short periods of time, if it's still something we want to do, we can attempt to game again. Once a month, so as not to tax our weekend time too heavily, and taking turns as to who makes the drive. During the day instead of the evening, of course.

I want to plan regular visits with K.T. and Kevin anyway. K.T. and I have been best friends for longer than I care to admit (thirteen years now?). We've overcome heartbreak. We've written a novel together (and if the editing process didn't kill us, nothing will). We were pregnant together - Jessica is almost precisely two months younger than Penny, and in a couple of years, two months won't be a difference worth sneezing at. Now we're working on another novel.

I'll be damned if I let a little extra distance separate us. I want to make an effort to see them at least every couple of months. I want our daughters to grow up together, thinking of us as a sort of extended family. (They'll probably hate each other, just to be perverse.)

There are things that are worth a little extra effort. Gaming might not be on the list, but friendship surely is.

(And that's what you get when I sit down to write a journal entry and say, "Absolutely no talking about Penny's sleep or feeding schedule!")

--Liz