Last night ended our anniversary celebration week. It’s a significant number so we’d planned a huge trip including a dream marathon for Steve, a tour of vegan restaurants for Carolyn, and attendance at Origins to commemorate how large a part gaming played in our romance. But you all know that our plans were reduced to ash by the pandemic. No travel. No restaurants. Marathon cancelled. Origins cancelled.

But we are creative people. We don’t need travel to have a beautiful anniversary. So we planned a significant hike near Memphis with a gourmet picnic lunch. Then the weather turned too hot and humid to make that enjoyable and the pandemic flared in our county to truly dangerous levels. It wasn’t safe to travel.

No matter. We are creative people. Surely the only thing one needs for a perfect anniversary is love and chocolate. Am I right? Well, that and gaming. We bought Pandemic Legacy Season 2 (Season1 was out of stock) from our local game store. Yay to 901 Games! Thanks for being there for us. We ordered fancypants vegan pastries from afar and supplemented them with all sorts of gourmet food and wine from Steve’s cellar. We were in business. And what a business!

It was as if we were still teenagers sneaking kisses and playing games. It was a perfect anniversary and I’m so glad I had the uninterrupted time with Steve to just connect over our favorite things.

Pandemic Legacy Season 2 is a lot more fun than we thought it would be. The game covers a year in a post-apocalyptic plague. Our mission is to deliver PPE to places that need it and hold the line against the plague. To do that we need to explore the Earth to find the cities and havens that still exist. It sounds bleak, but it is actually hopeful because we are there making a difference. At this point we just finished May in the game. So we have at least 7 more games. (If you lose in a month, you have to do the month over like remedial summer school.)

We couldn’t imagine how playing a game where you actually changed and destroyed the game as you went would be fun at all, but it really is. There are stickers that change the map. New cards and new rules are brought in. You can’t simply learn the system and iterate your strategy. You need to be flexible and smart. It’s a blast. Plus, if you are the type of person who hates spoilers (you know who you are) this is the game for you.

So lots of fun. I’m sort of glad we had to stay home and find another way to celebrate. (Though I wish it hadn’t been for this reason.)

One of my friends at FedEx used to have a sign in his cube that read “Semper Gumby” right above a Gumby figure. It meant, always be flexible and I believe it was a not-so-secret Marines joke. But it is good advice for all of us. Flexibility and adjusting as we go is the secret to strength and happiness.

I hope you are finding creative solutions to your own celebrations. Be well friends! And stay safe.

Image Credit: ID 69591829 © Paulo Tardao | Dreamstime.com