This is Jeopardy!

And now entering the studio are today's contestants... I've been a Jeopardy watcher for many years. (I know they have changed the opening of the show, but I still like the previous beginning, where the contestants did enter the studio, and not stand pre-arranged behind their podiums.) On each episode, Alex Trebek spends a few minutes talking to each contestant about something in their life. I admire Alex, after all these years, being able to show interest in these stories. When some little quirky thing has happened to The Kid, I've reminded her that she now has a story to share with Alex on Jeopardy.

Three stories I could share with Alex:

-There is a family legend that my grandfather may have slept in the same room as Jesse James, that this has not been proven, but that there is a book that references a J. Edmondson (my great-grandfather's name) riding with the James Gang. Alex would say "Have fun with your research".

-I hugged my boss at a community gathering. I'd had recent surgery and was still under the influence of pain killers. Our family tied our reunion into the town's centennial. When my boss saw me he asked how I was doing. I'd seen so many relatives that day my brain didn't connect with who he was and I hugged him. I hugged many people that day and he was one more face I recognized but didn't quite place. Half way through the hug I had a jolt of recognition. This was not some long lost cousin, but my boss. Alex would say "Did it get you a raise?".

-I have some hearing loss and have the closed-captioning option turned on on my TV. I don't need to read every word, but use it to catch words I miss. I see many closed-captioning mistakes, and I believe some are deliberate. If I were the closed-captioner, I would make some deliberate mistakes just to mess with people a little bit. The best I've seen is a reporter who said "The Bank of Nova Scotia" but the closed captioning said "The Bank of Alex Trebek". Alex would say "I'd like to have my own bank".

If I won a few days in a row, I could talk about the button collection I 'inherited', the 'dicks in a row' typo I made, hearing words incorrectly and what sounds to others like out-in-left-field replies. Alex likes the funny stories best, it seems.

I can't imagine that I will ever be a Jeopardy contestant, but who knows what the future will bring? I try to view the events, small and large, in my life as stories to share with Alex in a forty-five second time frame. It helps me keep perspective on the the mundane, the horrors, the joys, the accomplishments. Everything I do and experience is worth something to me and everything can be looked at with an eye on the ridiculous or funny. Give some thought to the stories you'd share with Alex. Holding his index card, Alex says "It says here..." And you reply "Yes Alex, I was..." Alex says "Good for you". All our stories are worth telling.