Do you bluff your way through a game of cards or play to the strength of cards you’re dealt?

You see, my grandmother was a Southern Baptist and I learned that her religious sect/dialect/denomination didn’t allow card playing.

My mother in-law is a Presbyterian and she plays bridge but has never touched a drop of alcohol.

I watch players on the national political level bluff and bet, some who drink or use other body enhancement substances before and after negotiating.

“I’ll bet my defense budget cuts against your elderly medical care vouchers, come next elections.”

I hear ancient Greek and Roman politicos, Asian princes, African pharoahs and Central/South American kings making the same bets.

The pure essence of a social species complicating simple barter exchange.

You raise/grow your own food for your family or you don’t.

My thoughts and prayers to those who’ve lost loved ones, including the Manis family.

To see a family that puts gentle loving first reminds me that murderous, maniacal members of our species are not the norm.

Those who negate the nesting habits of suburbanites should take a detailed account of alternatives.

Healthy alternatives that affirm life, regardless of lifestyle.

My time on this planet is limited, approaching zero.

I live in a neighbourhood that resembles a housing estate and is surrounded by them.

From nomads to farmers to soldiers to urban dwellers, we find ways to live for ourselves and families.

After college, my mother in-law settled into a three-story farmhouse, living there 60 years before moving into this single-floor rancher in the suburbs.

At 93.5, she looks at her remaining years and asks where she wants to live…

…in this house a few more years, with neighbours both as friends and family, many who enjoy not only playing bridge but also serving in the name of the Lord for community service?

…with her daughter in-law she loves, a Southern Baptist who doesn’t play bridge, in a multistory house having difficult egress, away from my mother in-law’s lifelong church and friends?

…a nonsuburban setting such as a nursing home or assisted living facility, with full medical attention 24/7 but she having to make new friends, some she’d hope who both play bridge and read the Bible daily, monthly cost being another major concern?

She asked her daughter (my wife) to make the decision.

Tomorrow, we implement the plan my wife wisely chose after talking to her mother, with final input from the doctor.

Family or inter/national politics – negotiating skills are important.

However, we don’t elect people into or out of families, do we?

What are politicians doing with your family’s money, though, huh, wolfly sheepish sheepshearers that they are?