My brother and his wife had a beautiful baby boy on Christmas Eve. It has always been difficult living two hours away since I’d like to see them more (especially now!) but I was fortunate to see them twice the week my nephew was born. Once the day after Christmas, and once a few days later. On the second visit Antina and I went together, and my brother announced that they were trying to decide on godparents for my nephew. They said the godfather was easy– my sister-in-law’s brother– but for the godmother, they said they love both me and Antina equally so they couldn’t make a decision. So my brother came up with this idea that we’d each draw cards and the high card wins.

Of course we were all giggling about the idea and just to make sure we all understood, we started to wonder aloud: Are aces high or low? Are twos wild? What order are the suits in the case of a draw on the face value? That one was Mom’s question–  and once my brother rattled off the suits, she expertly wrote it all down in her executive assistant-style notebook, just to make sure there were no arguments after the draw. You can never be too cautious when dealing with sisters.

After we got serious again, I drew a card. The eight of clubs. With a deep sigh I resolved to being the “loser”. I thought there was no way I was holding the high card. I showed my card to the room and you could almost hear the heaviness in the room as if everyone was thinking “oh, too bad for her”.   So we were all surprised when antina drew the six of clubs. (Sorry Antina ) And now, not only do I have a new appreciation for the number eight, I’m a godmother too.