&uot;Mama, why are you so good at Scrabble?&uot; A simple question from my 12-year-old son, Matthew. A simple question that evokes powerful memories.

My dad worked hard when I was growing up. From his job in Washington, D.C., to owining a motorcycle shop in Pennsylvania to finally a more settled (?) job with Harley-Davidson which involved him traveling on a weekly basis.

Because he always worked long hours and was gone often, staying connected with his family was sometimes tough. I missed my dad when he was gone. It is no secret that my mom and I struggled to get along and my dad and I did not. He came up with what I considered to be a game. However, now that I am a parent I know otherwise. Every week he would give me a new word. The goal was that when he came home that next weekend I would be able to spell it and use it correctly in conversation. It worked like a charm.

My vocabulary expanded quickly. I will never forget the time a teacher asked us to name the longest word that we could also define correctly. While others struggled with the assignment I didn’t even hesitate. &uot;Antidisestablishmentarianism&uot; – to oppose the withdrawal of state support from an established church.

That had been the hardest one he could come with and I struggled to learn it and its definition. I have never had the opportunity to use it in an everyday conversation and it is too big to fit on a Scrabble board. But the important thing is that I remember it and the look on my dads’ face when I used it.

Matthew and I play Scrabble a couple of times a week. It gives us a chance to spend time together. As we laugh and kid each other over the words we use and how the score changes back and forth I remember the time my dad made for me, time he didn’t always have. Someday Matthew will pull out a Scrabble board to play a game with his children, unknowingly continuing a tradition of time and love started by his grandfather.

As I get older and so do my children I am realizing that what you leave and pass on to your children is very important, and not in terms of material things. In the future the world will be even busier, but some things will not have changed. Children will still need connections to their past and they will still need time with their parents. Quality time where you truly hear what they are saying and sometimes what they aren’t.

Christina Hall is the lifestyle editor at The Democrat. She can be reached at 445-3549 or by e-mail at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com