The Uzzle ad: The Game She Chose Over My TV. Up to 71% Off!

I asked my 9 year old granddaughter if she would miss me when I die. She thought about it way too long. Then she said, "Can I have your TV?" I laughed, because I didn't know what else to do. Then she told me the worst part like it was nothing. "Nana Gail said when you go, I should call dibs on the TV. She said it's the only nice thing here." Nana Gail is her other grandma. She has a pool and a golf cart, and Lily loves going over there. I know. What a thing to ask a child. My friend Donna had just passed, and I guess it was on my mind. Now the TV. I bought it last year. A big 65 inch one I really couldn't afford, and I put it on my credit card. I thought if Grandma's house had something fun in it, Lily might want to come over more. So now I knew how my granddaughter saw me. As a TV. And I knew exactly who taught her that. It got worse before it got better. After that I tried so hard to be fun. I planned movie nights with popcorn on the big TV, and Lily watched her tablet the whole time. I bought her a pink bike with a basket. She rode it once, up and down my driveway, and it's been sitting in my garage ever since. Then one Friday my son called me from the car on speakerphone to make plans for the weekend. From the back seat, I heard Lily ask, "Do I have to go to Grandma's?" He took me off speaker real quick. That night I unplugged the TV and sat in my living room in the dark. I couldn't stand to look at it. A few weeks later my grandson Ben turned 6. He'd played a game called The Uzzle at his friend's house, and it was the only thing he asked me for. We had his cake at my house, and he opened it right there at my coffee table. Everybody gets five blocks with patterns on them, and you all race at the same time to match the picture on a card, so nobody sits there waiting for a turn. The cards go from easy to really hard, so a 6 year old and his grandma can have a real race. Ben beat me on the very first card and yelled "Uzzle!" with frosting still on his face. When his dad went to put the box in the car, Ben said, "No, it stays at Grandma's. So we have something to play here." Lily was on the couch with her tablet. She rolled her eyes. "It's a baby game." I don't know what came over me. I picked up the stack of the hardest cards and held it up. "Then come beat me on these," I said. "Beat me on the hardest cards, and the TV is yours." I meant it, too. I didn't want that TV anymore. I would have given it to her that night if it meant she'd sit at my table. Lily looked at the TV. Then she looked at me. She put her tablet down. "Fine," she said. "Saturday." Saturdays had always been Nana Gail's day. Now Lily made her dad drop her off at my house first thing, at nine. Nana Gail would come get her at noon. The first Saturday, she tried the hardest cards against me and couldn't finish a single one. So I gave her the level two cards to practice on, and I kept playing the level four ones. She still lost three times in a row. Every time, she said, "Again." We played until noon. The second Saturday, she walked right past the TV and didn't even look at it. She had the blocks out on the coffee table before her dad got back to his car. Somewhere in there she started talking to me. About the boy who sits behind her and kicks her chair. About her teacher's new haircut. She would build and talk, and I would build and listen. The third Saturday, I came out of the kitchen with her juice and found her at the coffee table by herself. She was doing the level four cards against my kitchen timer. She didn't even hear me come in. The fourth Saturday, we both played the hardest cards. Right at noon, Nana Gail knocked and let herself in, the way she always does. Just then Lily put her last block down and yelled "Uzzle!" She had beaten me on level four. Then she flipped another card and beat me again. Nana Gail stood there in her sunglasses and asked what was going on. "I beat Grandma on the hardest cards," Lily said. "Twice." "Well, a deal's a deal," I said. "The TV is yours, honey. It's already unplugged. Your dad can come get it this week." Nana Gail laughed. "Look at you. I told you to call dibs." Lily didn't even look at the TV. "I don't want it." "Honey, you won it fair and square." "I don't want the TV." She turned around to Nana Gail. "You said the TV was the only nice thing at Grandma's house. It's not." Then she looked at me. "You asked me if I'd miss you when you die. I would. Every single day." This time she didn't have to think about it at all. I had to look down at my blocks so I wouldn't cry in front of that woman. Then Lily said, "Nana, can you come back later? We're not done." Nana Gail stood there holding her car keys. She opened her mouth and shut it again. Then she said, "Well, okay, sweetie," and she drove home by herself. Lily flipped the next card. "Level four, Grandma. Again." That night my son called me. "Mom, what did you do? Lily wants to know if she can come over Sunday too." That's the same little girl who asked, "Do I have to go to Grandma's?" from the back seat of his car. She comes every Saturday now, and she stays all day. The TV is still in my living room. I plugged it back in, but most Saturdays nobody turns it on. We're at the coffee table right in front of it, and she beats me more than I beat her. If your grandkids have started acting like coming to your house is a chore, I know that sick feeling in your stomach. It probably isn't anything you did. Kids repeat what they hear, and sometimes somebody is telling them things. I tried to buy my way back with a TV and a bike, and none of it worked. What worked was sitting down across from her and giving her a reason to try and beat me. P.S. Some of you are going to ask me what the game was, so here it is. It's called The Uzzle. I paid about $50 for ours at my local Target. Then my son showed me it's only $30 on The Uzzle's own website, so that's where I'd get yours. If you order from their website, you get 30 days to try it, and if your family doesn't love it, they give you your money back. With Christmas coming, I wouldn't wait. They grow up so fast. If they're still in stock, you'll find them at the link below.