Open up a new deck of cards and you’ll find 4 suits of 13 cards. That’s 52 shiny new cards you can use to play poker, blackjack, solitaire and many other card games. There’s also usually a few joker cards in the pack but most people discard those before they shuffle the deck for the first time. (I’ll come back to those “jokers” in just a second)
If life was a card game and you got to play a card for every year you’ve been alive, I played my final card yesterday. 52 cards have been played and pushed to the middle of the table.
Looking back, it doesn’t matter whether they were hearts, clubs, diamonds, or spades, I just had to do my best to play the hand that was dealt. Some hands were better than others but I made it through the deck and now it’s time to reshuffle and see how much longer I can stay in the game.
As I start year #53 today, it’s time to reshuffle or bring in a new deck. And you know what? Most people throw away those joker cards when they open the new decks because they take their careers and lives more seriously than they need to. Not me. I feel keeping as much fun and frivolity in my daily life is one of the reasons I’m still sitting at the table waiting for another hand. Heck, I’ll play with both jokers if you let me.
I’m gonna make it another year full of building relationships, solving problems and having fun.
And that’s no joke!
Photo courtesy of Toni Reed