From Boredom to Monopoly

The bleakness of the break started to set in. It always happens during this time, the first few days of winter break are a pure epiphany, filled with Christmas, Presents, and Joy. After Christmas, the downfall of boredom occurs, when Holiday Music is no longer relevant, and the next thing to look forward to is  in Spring. It happens every year without fail, but this year I decided to welcome the feeling of familiarity with open arms because it was something that decided to stay constant during these strange times. 

The feeling hit me while I was lying face up in my bed, staring at my ceiling, thinking about the lack of things I had to do. The feeling often creeps up on you, waiting for the perfect moment to wash over you, reminding you that your state of being is bored. Of course, being a Junior in High School there wasn’t anywhere near a shortage of activities. I could easily start to study for the SAT’s(as my parents constantly reminded me), finish the piles of homework I had yet to do (I thoroughly planned on completing those the day before school started), or read the piles of fantasy books I wanted to read but never got time to with school(I wanted to but the feeling of wanting to read just wasn’t there).

As I was lying on my bed, bored out of my mind, I started to count the tiles that labeled the ceiling. 

1….2...3...4…

 The counting was almost enough to lull me to sleep, and as my eyes were threatening to close, I was unwantedly pushed into a flashback from last year. 

December 31, 2019 11:30pm 

I was happy. I was with my childhood best friends and we were huddling around the TV deciding if we wanted to watch the annual Times Square Ball drop or continue watching whatever movie we were so engrossed in (It was probably Lady Bird- It’s one of our favorite movies, we’ve probably seen it 50-100 times at that point). As we were deciding, my friend's mom walked in with these cool apple sparkler drinks, so we could pretend to be fancy during the New Year. We soon got into a conversation about our dilemma, and my friend's mom was all in for watching the ball drop. This cut the tie in votes we had, and the dilemma was settled. 

There was still some time before the drop though and we were thinking about what to do. As we were thinking, one of my friends mentioned this idea she saw on Pinterest. 

“Guys! Do you want to do one of those goal sheets, like on Pinterest?”

We were all in for the idea, and one of my friends scrambled to get paper and pens. As everybody else's pens started to move swiftly against the paper, I was stuck coming up with even one goal. I remember wanting to search up a goal, but going against it because I wanted to be authentic. 

Then it hit me. It was the holidays, the season of giving. In the New Year, I wanted to do something kind for just one person. Make their day a bit better. It seemed easy enough and I was proud of my idea. 

Present Time

Just as quick as the flashback came, I was rushed back into the present day. I was still laying on my bed, bored out of my mind, but this time I had something to do. 

I reached for my phone on the bedside table, looking for the time, when I realized the date written across the screen.

December 31, 2020 5:00pm 

I blinked my eyes. There is no way it is already the 31st. It seems like it was March when school was let out for a two-week break, which unexpectedly extended for nine months. Then, the realization hit me. I only had a few hours to complete my goal. I mentally made a list of all the possible recipients for my kind gesture. Since it was quarantine, I was limited to my family, something which put a damper on my plans. But then I realized that was okay. I have the perfect recipient living right with me. 

I would normally consider myself a pretty nice person, with exception of my brother. We often have sibling fights about food, television, etc. and sometimes during these fights, I can be a bit harsh without wanting to. In regards to completing my goal, I realized that I wanted him to be the recipient. I wanted to do something kind for my brother. 

But what? My brother and I don’t hang out as often as we used to, because I’m either cooped up in my room, or he is playing video games with his friends. We don’t have much in common anymore, and we don’t interact as much as I would like. As my brain gears were moving, I started to pace across my room, something I tend to do when I think. As I was pacing, a red box caught my eye. Curious, I walked over to it and picked it up. Written across the box was “Monopoly”. 

Oh, Monopoly. My family and I loved Monopoly for the longest time. It was some kind of addiction that ran in the family, and we would always play Monopoly on family game nights. Since we are all naturally competitive, the games ran long into the night, once even early into the morning! The memories with the game don’t stop there though. When my brother and I went to India each year to visit family, we would always lug Monopoly with us. In India, we would play at least a game every day without fail and even make our cousins join in. The memories associated with the game were so beautiful. 

I don’t know exactly when we stopped playing the game, and the drift in our sibling relationship started to appear. The drift could have appeared as a result of being cooped up together for months at a time, or maybe the drift started before the quarantine. Regardless, there was a drift and I wanted to fix it. I realized what I wanted to for my kind gesture. 

I quickly lugged the game down two flights of stairs to the basement, where my brother was playing video games. In the back of my head, I was scared of rejection. What if he doesn’t want to play? However, I decided to put these intruding thoughts in the back of my head as I went up to my brother and asked him, 

“Want to play Monopoly?”

At first, he seemed confused, and I was scared. Maybe our sibling bond was broken beyond repair. As I was rapidly losing hope, I hear a loud

“Sure.” 

Yes! Yes! Yes! I could feel the excitement to play the game, the competition, the anticipation. But I decided to play it cool, like the older sister I am, and simply responded with, “Okay, I’ll set it up upstairs.” 

I hurriedly raced up the stairs and set up the game. The game felt so familiar, from the shapes of the game pieces to the specific light green shade of the board itself. As I finished the setup, I called for my brother who was still in the basement. With some bribing, he finally came up the stairs, and into the living room, where the game was set up. 

I decided to take the blue car as my token, even though the yellow car was always my lucky token. Maybe it was because I knew there was a change from the last time we played the game, and I wanted to start over. Or maybe it is because I just wanted a new car. My brother also chose a different game piece, choosing to pick a green car, different from his lucky purple. Maybe we were both trying to start over and close the sibling drift that had appeared between us.  

The game started off a bit awkward, but soon we got into the familiar groove of things. Soon enough, there was the familiar competitive yelling, competition, and anticipation of landing on properties. As the game started to extend into the night, I realized that doing this kind gesture was important, not just because I completed my New Years Goal from last year, but because it helped save something important to me.