The Mindfulness of a Mindless Game
How a deck of cards reminded me of fate and free will in life
Look, I’m the blabby sort. I picture my deathbed surrounded by loved ones while I pontificate on life, love, and the glowing winged creature hovering in the corner checking her watch.
This is (more or less) the profound and meaningful farewell a friend of mine imagined when he went to visit his dying dad.
What he got instead were games of solitaire.
His father spent his final days focused on a deck of playing cards. He cut and shuffled. He shuffled again. Over and over until he felt satisfied with their random order.
And then he proceeded to sort them once again into neat rows of suits in ascending order.
He could have avoided talking about his looming death by reading, binging mindless television, or even simply closing his eyes to feign sleep.
Instead, he dealt cards.
