three hundred words a day. july 25.

When I was little, my father was in the Air Force and we traveled quite a bit.  We moved to places like Japan and Korea, New Mexico, Wyoming and Greece.  It was mostly exciting, the packing and moving, living someplace new.

Some of the places we lived had housing on base that was provided for families.  Some places did not and we got the opportunity to live on the economy (not on base).  In those cases, the Air Force would generally put us up in a hotel until my parents were able to find us a place to live.

When we moved to Greece, we lived in a hotel for quite awhile.  My sisters and I were small at the time, and my parents weren't comfortable letting us roam around, so we entertained ourselves by learning new things from the other kids staying at the hotel.

I learned how to french braid my own hair.  I learned how to curse your entire family without saying a word and how to say just about every bad word in Greek that there is.  I learned all the hotel's hiding places and how to play ding dong ditch.

I also learned to play blackjack.

And believe it or not, of all the things I learned, blackjack is the only thing I have passed along to my own littles.

Blackjack taught them to add.
Blackjack taught them about rules.
Blackjack taught them that you don't always win.
Blackjack taught them that winning isn't always everything.
Blackjack taught them that even if when you don't win, you can still have fun playing the game.
If you follow the rules.  And you're smart about your strategy. 

Today, I'm taking my littles to the Del Mar Racetrack.  Let's see what life lessons we can come up with there.