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Vivian
Posted on 2024-07-09
Game teaches life lessons
Reported in The Times Dispatch on July 15, 2015 in a column titled, Times Dispatch wins awards.
Vivian Heyl won a first place in the (Arkansas Press Awards) General Interest Column category.
Vivian’s winning column was titled “Game teaches life lessons.”
Judges commented,
“Great analogy. Fantastic storyteller.”
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Game teaches life lessons
By Vivian Heyl
I enjoy playing solitaire. It’s a complex game that has taught me a great deal about life. There’s something about moving those 52 cards round till they finally become a neatly organized stack that makes me happy.
I remember playing with cards when I was very young. Sitting at the kitchen table I would take the deck of jumbled cards and begin to rearrange them. I was rescuing them from chaos and I felt sure that once I could get them all back to their own families they would be happy. At that early age I was completely convinced that the heart, diamond, club and spade families should all be together and it was my responsibility to help them. As I grew older my parents began to teach me about the cards. The idea of a hierarchy was baffling at first, but I soon began to get the idea. I thought the kings, queens and jacks looked pretty spiffy but the aces weren’t too shabby either. I also learned cards have some pretty weird names. For instance a two is called a deuce, and a three is a trey and sometimes the five is also a fiver. There are one-eyed jacks and kings and painted ladies and a special card known as the joker. The joker is the odd man out in the deck. Disdained by many and coveted by some, the joker plays a complex role in the world of cards.
I was probably six before I began playing solitaire with any real understanding of how it all worked. I learned that I couldn’t just rearrange the cards however I saw fit. There were rules that had to be followed and even though I thought some of them were pretty iffy, I did my best.
My favorite game is sometimes called patience, but it is most commonly known as Russian solitaire. It is a game that is played by placing the cards by suit in downward columns from the king to the ace. The object, however, is to stack them on the pile from the ace to the king. There’s that hierarchy thing again.
There is still a sense of achievement all these years later when the cards all line up by family. Though it isn’t much to crow about it improves my mood each time it happens.
I said earlier that solitaire taught me a great deal about life. There is something about this game that clears my mind and helps me to think about my choices, what I should do to solve a problem or organize my day. Solitaire represents a lot of life’s experiences or at least that’s the way I see it. When the cards are first dealt they are willie-nillie, all over the place. When I was much younger I often indulged in a flurry of card moving, quickly rearranging them from one pile to another in an attempt to bring order to the deck. This often resulted in an abrupt end to the game. The truth is making decisions without thought usually leads to a dead end. Unless you are willing to cheat, no more moves means the game is over.
By the time I had reached my teens I’d decided to actually put some thought into the moves. I looked at where the move would take me and what options it opened up. I eventually learned to play the game forward in my mind weighing one option against another. Then I would decide which moves would result in the most chances for success. Even when I carefully planned my moves it didn’t mean I would win. Sometimes the dead end is there even though it isn’t visible yet. When there was nowhere else to go I had to start over once again.
Somewhere in there I began to learn what the game teaches. It teaches patience, that not every choice will be the right choice and it’s okay to reshuffle and start again.
I have won a few hands of solitaire in my life, but I have lost a whole lot more. Though I loved winning I found out the losses were more frequent. Playing solitaire taught me that in every loss there are some lucky moves and that every win takes more than a little bit of luck.
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Originally published in The Times Dispatch on April 9, 2014.
by Vivian Heyl 1950-2024
Vivian Running Sound At Blues Fest
Vivian was editor at Delta Boogie since we started the site in 1996. She wrote almost all of our Delta Musicians section, the most popular area on Delta Boogie. She also wrote anything else on Delta Boogie that doesn't have a byline.
She also worked for the Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, where she contributed many features and some reporting. Her work at the Times Dispatch regularly won awards from the Arkansas Press Association.
Writing was her passion. She wrote for her whole life. Much of it we still have in computer files. I am posting her work here as I find it.
by Larry Heyl
Links
Delta Boogie
Gamer+
Related To Geeks
Gretchen says:
Today we celebrate Vivian Heyl. Mom, Grandma, Viv. Whatever name you knew her by, I'm sure at some point in time she used her gift of nurturing on you. She was indeed a nurturer - of the mind, body and spirit. Her words of encouragement could only be outdone by her quick wit and, when needed, sharp tongue. She loved unconditionally, but she had no problem calling you on your crap. She welcomed ALL to her family - and about the only thing that would get you unwelcome was making someone else feel that way. Today we celebrate the life she lived, the example she set and the love she shared.
Many have asked what they can do for the family or in memory of Mom - I offer these suggestions:
Play a game with your family. There is nothing that would be a better gift than to share joy with your family and in memory of Mom.
Read a book (it can have pictures). Mom loved to go on adventures in books and she led us kids down the same path.
Encourage a kid (preferably one who no else even seems to notice). I promise that is the one Mom would spot first and immediately bring into the fold.
We would also love to hear your stories about Mom. We would love anyone who would like to share stories or memories to do so in the comment thread. Maybe you have a story where you realized, possibly even years later, that you had been molded by a momma's love in the form of Vivian Heyl.
If you would like to make a memorial gift, please consider the children and youth fund at Brookland UMC or the friends of the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library, the Lawrence County Library or your local library.
Lastly, just keep loving us! We are sad, but we are blessed.
Add your words to the comments thread:
Words and Comments
Delta Boogie Newsletter/Gamer+ News - May 2024 - This One's For Vivian
https://gamerplus.org/@hairylarry/pages/1714661546292
My wife Vivian was the editor of Delta Boogie and a regular contributor to Gamer+. She helped me with everything I did including Blues Fest for 25 years, The Bandshell Project, Jonesboro Computer Services, The Jonesboro User Group, and so much more. I don't know what I'll do without her.
On April 18, 2024, Vivian passed on.
She was a writer all her life and I am collecting her writings here.
https://deltaboogie.net/words
She worked at The Times Dispatch in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, for years. Her features regularly won Awards from the Arkansas Press Association.
She wrote almost all of Delta Musicians, the most popular section on Delta Boogie, where she provided Delta Bluesmen with a place on the internet back in the nineties. She also wrote all of the articles on Delta Boogie that do not have a byline.
She played and ran fantasy RPGs with dice and miniatures at ASU Beebe in the early seventies before D&D was published.
We home schooled our children and she saw their love of D&D as an educational opportunity for reading, writing, history, the arts, and, of course, math.
She loved music and games and she raised a family of musicians and gamers.
We have five children and seven grandchildren. I had two boys before we married and she loved them like her own.
She saved my life and she gave me a good life. I love her still and always.
For her, I thank you all, for your continued support of Delta Boogie, Gamer+, Delta music, NEA gaming and whatever else it is that you do to make the world a little bit better.
Please take a minute and say a prayer.
Thanks,
Hairy Larry
https://gamerplus.org/@hairylarry
hairylarry@deltaboogie.com
Comment thread here.