Playing "smear" with my Uncle Ron and Aunt Aileen in Destin, FL

As a child my aunts and uncles would frequently get-together and play cards. My memories about them playing "smear" and usually said as "schmeer" go back 50 years. The game never interested me until this week.

I'm pretty new to playing cards having played a real card game for the first time on our honeymoon in southern Mexico almost 28 years ago. The game that my then new wife taught me was canasta. I enjoyed it.

This week while visiting my Aunt Aileen and Uncle Ron in Florida I was reintroduced to their love of card games and found myself playing "schmeer". Usually my palms would sweat and my heart would skip a beat when I was involved in a game involving bidding and that sort of thing.

Let it be known that I really enjoyed it. My uncle and my aunt and my wife were very patient in teaching me.

I thank God for my mother's family. They are real people who have a really amazing story. And I'll try and share more about that later. Their picture across the card table: