Growing Up Phillips: Oklahoma Rummy

Pick a holiday, any holiday.  Or maybe a Sunday.  Dinner is done, dishes are cleared and washed and most houses are settling down for the evening.  But not ours.  We're gathering around the table to play Oklahoma Rummy.  Genny and Manny would be there, maybe Pat and Morris, those of us kids who wanted to play, my dad and any other guests/visitors who so chose.  Outbursts of "Buy" and "that was a playable card" rumble around the table, usually 8 or 10 or more of us playing.  It took three decks of cards.  Its a good game for kids - you learn your numbers and jacks, queens, kings and aces, jokers (six of them in three decks) and, when you got really good at it, counting cards, observing players and what they've played, even trying to read faces.  Maybe even developing a poker face of your own (mine was wide-eyed gullible, they never knew if I had a good hand or bad hand because I always looked like a deer caught in the headlights).  You eventually learn things like to not throw away playable cards and that when someone does, its either a mistake on their part or they're really close to "going out" and winning the hand.  Oh yeah, don't forget to "knock."  And yes, we kept score, you had to count the points in your hand (2-7 was 5 points, 8-King was 10 points, Ace was 15 points and Joker was 50 points, I think).  Of course, the lowest number of points at the end of the series of hands wins.

The other really cool thing about Oklahoma Rummy is that it keeps you thinking.  Its not like Gin Rummy where you always try to go for whatever you can in the way of sets and runs but Oklahoma Rummy is scripted by hand, I think this is how it goes and if not, it gives you the idea:
1.  Two sets
2.  Two runs
3.  One set, one run
4.  Three sets
5.  Two sets, one run
6.  Two runs, one set
7.  Three runs

I won't go in to all the rules here.  Actually, its been a lot of years since I've played.  Maybe I'll bring three decks of cards to Christmas this year.  I recall you discard and the next person may pick up the discard or a new card.  If they don't want the discard and someone else needs it, they can "buy" and take it plus 2 or 3 cards from the top of the deck. 

And, like anything else, we developed our nicknames for the hands, sets were something called setbacks and runs may be ruins.  It was all in good fun and it was a good learning experience!

Growing Up Phillips: Sharing Bedrooms

How many kids today share a bedroom?  Probably not as many that did when I was a kid.  We shared bedrooms as kids, even if some of us managed to get our own, the youngest two of my brothers were adults and still sharing a bedroom.  There's only so many bedrooms in a house and when you have more people than bedrooms, you share.  That's just the way it was.

My oldest sister returned home for a few months with her daughter, my niece, when I was seven.  They got my bedroom and I moved in with "the two little boys."  Mind you, the boys were older than I was but they got called "the two little boys" into adulthood and then some.  Anyway, I was 7, Mark was 9 and John was 10.  The room was fairly good sized, 10 x 12 feet I think.  The boys had bunk beds on one side and I had a twin/solo bed on the other.  We changed our clothes in the bathroom or under the covers.  Even though we knew the difference between girls and boys, we didn't need to flaunt it. 

I think the biggest casualty of those six months was the ceiling.  I was pretty gullible as a kid.  My brothers would never tell me a lie or do anything to hurt someone or something...right?  Well John convinced me that root beer tastes better when the bottle was shaken, so I shook it before removing the cap.  Okay, so now the ceiling was stained and dripping root beer on my bed.  So I asked him if that accoustical ceiling could be washed.  John said sure.  Did I mention I was gullible at age 7?  So, here I am, standing on a chair, washing the ceiling with a hot, soapy washrag.  Oh, well, I couldn't reach the ceiling standing on a chair that was on the floor, so the chair was sitting on my bed (get it? bed with chair on top, me on chair).  I knew I was in trouble when with each swipe, the textured ceiling now had a new texture, the one I made with the washrag.  I did the only thing I could do and yelled, "Pa!!!"  Time to fess up.  Time to get into BIG trouble.  I still wonder which I was in trouble for more:

• Gullibility and believing John
• Trying to cover up the mess
• Ruining the ceiling
• Standing on a chair set on top of the bed

My only consolation was that John was in bigger trouble for being the instigator.  On the bright side, I was only 7.  Its not like I was 10 or 14 and should have known better!