En-Foosed

School, work, Foosball … but not always in that order. Since my husband picked up a Foosball table from the curb, where someone else in our new hometown had put it out for the “large items” garbage pick-up day, playing Foosball together has become a staple of our daily routine.

I am by far the least talented player in our household (although bring Grandma in for a tournament, and there’s some competition for that position). I prefer to play the defensive side of the field, hoping that my partner will keep the ball on the other end, and try very hard not to inadvertently knock the ball into our own goal. Yet that still happens at least once a game. My husband says, “Learn from us. Never teach your children to play Foosball, or they’ll learn to beat you!”

Our 7 and 11 year old daughters are so quick and so powerful, they have beaten their parents many times. Our daughter with the more fragmented attention span is VERY good at this fast-paced game. She moves without thinking, so much so that my husband counts on her overreaction in certain moves as part of his strategy. Our other daughter is also very adept, and true to her personality, volleys back and forth quips and commentary as fast as she kicks the ball.

While my hands have been occupied with Foosball handles (or, alas, not blocking another goal), my mind has been buzzing on change, and how the different generations respond to all the changes that fly towards us rapid-fire these days, in the church or society at large. Here is a collection of thoughts:

• Different generations and personalities, approach the game/church/life differently. Younger folks, who learned to play before over-thinking got in the way, are leaders to learn from too.
• Sometimes we accidentally do the right thing. It still counts. These mistakes can teach us some practices to add to our repertoire (like keeping the goalie resting in the center, with feet down at all times, just in case it might block a ball I had no time to react to).
• Everybody sometimes inadvertently scores against themselves. We have to forgive ourselves and our teammates for that in order to move on.
• I have stated that I will only play if the kids’ team dials down the trash talk belittling my skills, and that’s a good “life lesson” for them on making and keeping playmates who are not obligated to play with them because they are related! It applies to online engagement too. Nobody has to play.
• The used Foosball table we re-claimed was already missing one player, and we quickly broke two more from hard play. We ordered some online and replaced them, but they look a little different from the previous ones. So, it’s not how it once was, a combination of wear and tear hobbled it, but with some work it is functional for this moment (take note, Church).