The game of Life (Monopoly is better)

A Poem by Gaige

I contemplate a lot of things, perhaps too much, and it makes life appear as some sort of elusive puzzle. You're given this idea as a kid of what life is like: monopoly. It's a big box, and its cover makes you think of how much fun it's going to be. You get some money, you have friends around. All you need to do is roll the dice, land on park place, and eventually pass go. But that's the beautiful delusion, the entrapment of child naivety and gullibility. In reality you tear the lid off the box at some certain age that varies from person to person. You rummage around and pull out that simply complex game board, but the pieces aren't all there. In fact many are missing, and some of them don't even belong to Monopoly. Then you remember how life was explained to you as a kid. You find the instructions and you begin to read, or make a valiant attempt to. The instructions (for some reason) are in French, and you actually know some French. Why? Well one semester in college you met this girl named Lauren. She loves French, France, dancing, exotic food, karaoke, camping, hiking, the same music and movies as you, walking through cities with only you. Her soul is gorgeous like a sunset that you could watch forever. So for this girl you learn French, and it just so happens that a lot of the directions and quips of life are in French. She may have broken your heart, but at least now you can play the game the right way now right? But what the hell are you supposed to do about those missing, mismatching pieces? You learned French already, and that was quite a difficult undertaking. Why shouldn't you learn how to make those pieces that seemingly don't belong fit into your game? Maybe if you look hard enough you'll come across the pieces you're missing. And what you're left isn't the monopoly you were promised as a child, but the life you've made. It's perfection in all its inherent flaws. All of this because you were convinced of something as a child, met Lauren, learned french, got your heart broken, and saw the world for the beautiful, cruel creature it is. It's a wide, magical world. Go explore it, play some Monopoly.