How David Plays Monopoly (and What That Says About Him)

When most people play Monopoly, they look over the available pieces and then select one to place on the board to represent themselves.  That's what the person with the dark red piece (closest to the bottom of the picture) did in this photo:

But two squares behind that solitary red figure, do you see the clump of pieces - five in all?  By that, you could surmise that a lot of people were playing this particular game of Monopoly and amazingly, all ended up on that square at the same time.  You'd be wrong.

As a matter of fact, all of those pieces were being used by David, who decided at the beginning of the game that rather than using one piece, he'd use a whole group.

As a matter of fact, that says a lot about who David is.

That boy is a people person, if I've ever seen one.  As I've said a few times recently to various people, he'd rather be doing something - anything! - with someone than be doing his favorite thing by himself.  As friends come over and the number of people in our house rises, so does his energy level and joy.  I'm sure he'd be quite happy about having friends over to play every single day.  All summer long, he asked repeatedly (usually multiple times each day) if he could play with Gabi, a neighbor girl.  He loves going to church services because Andrew is there; and today as we drove out of DC, he confided to me that when he grows up, he and Andrew are going to live in the same city so they can see each other all the time.  "Did you talk to Andrew about this?" I asked him.  "No," was his reply.  But he seemed pretty confident that his plan would work out fine, whether or not Andrew had been consulted.  :)

I love people (but I love being by myself, too).  I cherish friendships (but I cherish space as well).  I delight in time together (but I delight in time alone, also).  In my heart, I know that I'm nowhere close to being the people person that David is.  It amuses me to watch him and listen to him as he showers love on people, but it does more than that:  it convicts me.  I want to be like David when I grow up.

Maybe I'll start by using half a dozen Monopoly pieces, next time I play.  ;-)