Tag Archives: family

The games Archers play

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Western Publishing's STOCK MARKET

About 35 years ago, my uncle helped my grandmother write her autobiography. He later updated it after her death. The book contains a section on games, talking about how much the Archer family has always enjoyed games. My grandmother used to play dominoes every day, without fail.

I inherited the game-playing gene. My dad and I used to play board games almost every night when I was growing up. I would play games by myself, finding that almost any game can be played alone. When video games and computers came out, I quickly took to electronic game playing.

I am overly competitive. I play games to win. I analyze games more than the average person, studying strategies and tactics for winning. (I remember someone complaining loudly during a Clue game because I was taking notes when it wasn’t my turn) Doesn’t mean that I always win or that I’m always good at games; just means that I take them seriously. One thing I learned to appreciate about computers was they never complain when they lose, and they’ll let you start over if you’re losing.

When my family gathers at Christmas, we always play games. Risk, Monopoly and Stock Market are favorites. (Don’t know why Western Publishing’s Stock Market never caught on more than it did; it was a really good game) Card games are also popular.

So how about you? Are you a game player? What are your favorite games?

Daniel turns 18

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It was a cold day in July, as are most July days in Argentina. July 25, 1992. We watched the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics, quite a memorable show (did you see the guy light the torch by shooting a flaming arrow? Pretty neat.) Then I sat down to use the computer a bit, when my wife stepped into the room and said, “My water broke.”

Some phrases take a moment or two to process. This one seemed to take a long time, but it was probably only a second or two. It was time! Time to drive across town to the hospital.

Our Fiat was over 20 years old. It ran on compressed natural gas. It started a lot of the time. Well, most of the time. But it came through on that cold night, firing up right away and carrying us across town to the Hospital Italiano.

On the way, I couldn’t help but think that my life was about to change. I was going to be a father. A little life would soon be entrusted to my care. It wasn’t nervousness, nor fear, but just an awareness of an impending life change.

I’ll spare you the details of the delivery. Daniel Luis Archer came into the world at 1:20 a.m. on July 26, 1992. He was a big, healthy baby. His middle name was easy: one grandfather was named Luis, the other’s middle name is Louis. The first name was chosen from the rather small pool of names that we could think of that worked well in English and Spanish.

Lots of things have happened in the ensuing years, some good, some bad, but all contributing to my son’s growth as a responsible, Christian man. He is a good student and a talented writer. He is a gifted musician. He is sensitive and considerate to others, with a real knack for working with kids. I could go on and on, but that’s his mom’s job. (Just kidding, honey)

And yes… I’m very proud of him. Happy birthday, Daniel.

Trip to New Jersey

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This past week, my family and I made a long-overdue trip to visit my sister and her family in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. As was to be expected, we enjoyed a wonderful time with family, including the obligatory Risk and Monopoly games, card games, etc. Our kids often see their cousins only at Christmas, so this was a special treat.

We did a bit of sight-seeing while there. Destinations included Bushkill Falls in Pennsylvania, the Franklin Institute and Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, the Hessian Barracks in Trenton, the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden, and several sites in New York City. We rode trains, ferries, subways and, of course, airplanes. And we walked a lot, at least more than we typically do while here in Texas. We also got to see the New Jersey statehouse where my brother-in-law works and the Educational Testing Service complex where my sister works.

On Sunday, I got to speak to the Princeton Church of Christ in the morning and the Echo Lake Church of Christ (in Westfield) in the evening. On both occasions, the person that invited me to speak was not in attendance. Tells you something about my speaking abilities! I did get to meet Adam Gonnerman at Echo Lake, after bumping into him a few times on the Internet.

Coming home, we were on the tarmac in Newark for almost 3 hours before getting to take off. That meant, of course, that we missed our connection in Dallas and had to spend the night. We arrived home on Tuesday, pretty worn out. Tired, but happy… happy to be home and happy to have been able to make a great trip.

Remembrance

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Years ago, my dad’s youngest brother encouraged my grandmother to write her life’s story. Since then, he’s published several other books on our family, including some pictures that help tell the story.

There were eight kids in their family, six of them boys. When World War II came, several of the boys enlisted. This picture from 1943 shows the strain the family was under during those stressful years.

My uncles Charlie and Luther were already in the navy; they are on either end of the picture. My dad is second from the left; he would soon join the Air Force, as would his brother Sam, second from the right. The other boy in the picture, Coleman, would join the Navy upon graduating from high school the following year.

Sam was the only one of the boys that didn’t come home. On May 22, 1944, the family received a letter telling them that Sam’s plane had been shot down. A month later, they got official word that he had been killed.

The stress of having four sons in the military and the pain of having lost another took a terrible toll on my grandmother. The picture below was taken in 1946. Less than three years from the picture above, yet the physical change is dramatic. (Note that my grandmother was already using a cane in the above picture, she just didn’t have it with her when that picture was taken)

On this Memorial Day, let’s remember those who suffer during wartime, especially those who are left behind.

My Hispanic family

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“There seems to be a mistake here,” the lady at the driver’s license office said.
“What’s wrong?” my wife asked.
“Your son marked that he’s Hispanic.”
“He is. He was born in Argentina. I’m Argentine.”
The lady looked up in surprise, then blurted out, “You don’t look Hispanic.”
For those of you that don’t speak the language, let me translate. The woman meant, “I’m sorry. I’m so ignorant that I think Hispanic means Mexican.” [Interestingly enough, it was 20 years ago when we had our major run-in with cultural ignorance, and it was also at the driver’s license office. But that’s another story.] If you don’t show features that reflect Aztecan or Mayan blood, then you just don’t look Hispanic to people like this lady.
From what I can tell, this problem is bigger in Texas than in other places. But you’d be surprised how many people tell my wife she doesn’t look Argentine. My usual response is, “Have you met a lot of people from Argentina?” Right now, I have the perfect ready examples. There are six Argentines playing in the NBA (at least in 2007-08). Two of them are blond, with German last names (Herrmann, Oberto). The others have Italian last names (Ginobili, Scola, Delfino, Nocioni). And none of them would fit this lady’s view of “Hispanic.” [If you include the other two Argentines that have played in the NBA, you do get Sanchez, which might sound a bit more Hispanic, but you also get Wolkowyski).
Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Hispanics are as culturally diverse as are English speakers around the world. And my two beautiful kids are Hispanic, more so than many, since their great-grandmother was actually born in Spain. A lot of Hispanics can’t claim that.
Texas DPS, isn’t it time you hired some culturally-sensitive people? Nah… why mess with tradition?