3... 2... UNO!

If you're a child of the nineties, you should know what UNO Stack-O is. I grew up playing the game with my family and friends whenever we took rain checks on Monopoly, Scrabble, Cluedo, Boggle and loads more! Kids need a break from the educational games every now and then so that's where Go Fish and UNO Stack-O come along. My fiance and I make such an eccentric pair and our quirks came to surface a few weeks after we met. Jordan with his odd Chubaka sounds and extensive knowledge of movies and music; my self deprecating disposition, peculiar laugh and anal retentiveness that drives him utterly nuts. A lot of people can testify to our quirky attributes which is why we take pride in the success of maintaining our long distance relationship. You can babble about your daily encounters only for so long so games are a breath of fresh air.

Our chatting transitioned from Yahoo to Skype and most recently, MSN. Yahoo Messenger Video Calls never worked well for us so Skype came to be our niche for the months we've been apart. I've used Windows Live Messenger before but never with Jordan so I suggested to give it a try since his Skype account began acting up after the application upgrade. He was laughing in the picture I sent him because I kept smiling and he couldn't see himself on the camera. He was so oblivious to the fact that I was taking a screenshot of his reaction. We're both extremely competitive and lack sportsmanship so losing to each other is double the fun. We used to play Tic-Tac-Toe and Pipes on Skype; I prefer the latter since it requires teamwork and we're much more effective when we work together.

We experimented with various games on MSN yet a lot of them got me grunting so Jordan and I settled with UNO. The virtual card game associated with UNO Stack-O. I had to re-discover the mechanics since the last time I played was a decade ago. It didn't take long for me to get the hang of it and yell - - - "UNO!". It may seem shallow but the game never gets old and there's just something special about seeing him smile, knowing that he's having fun amidst my presence. We both won one game each though the application defeated us so frequently that Jordan decided to close the window. Precious moments like this makes me look forward to waking up in the morning.

Online relationships are so unique in a sense that the distance hinders both parties from being blinded by the trappings of the others' physicality. Thus, an intellectual connection ensues. We are kids at heart who wish to live our dreams. Something as trivial as a game can aid in strengthening relationships as I've found it to be for us. Being inherently playful conjures creative ways for bonding ideas between Jordan and I. Try something new today and see if brings a spark to the romance.