Backgammon

Growing up Kieron and I played hours and hours of backgammon. He learned to play in prep school - don't know why but backgammon is a staple at NE prep schools - and when he came home for Christmas in 1980 he taught me the game. I went to the same school three years later a seasoned backgammoner, and still play several times a week.

We loved to play against each other. At first it was that teacher/student element and I was just glad to be there. But later on our matches became heated much like our competitive games of one on one in hoops. Backgammon is an ironic, funny game. To me it's the oxymoron of games. You count on absolute luck at the start of every move, and rely on skill to finish it.

I played last night til dawn online. I wonder how many times I thought to myself "how would Kieron play this roll". Not because he's sick, or because I miss him, but because he taught me the game and how to best use every possible dice combination. Sometimes a roll of 1-2 can top your opponents roll of 6-6.

Not really any parellels between Backgammon and Pick's Disease. But there are between backgammon and everyday life. Like the game, life is funny; it's ironic; luck plays a huge part in all of our lives -unluckiness plays as big a part. Kieron was heavy on intellect and truly was a unique thinker. He was a voracious reader and worked on his own writings just as hard. He taught English and Literature to college freshmen and adults in continuing education. He was a tutor. He relied on his eduaction and knowledge of the classics...it was his livlihood. It's ironic and brutally funny that Pick's Disease - a cryptonite-like poison of the mind- afflicted someone like Kieron. How could Kieron be robbed of his mind of all things? It'd be like Michael Phelps drowning...

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One of Kieron's favorites passed away this weekend, Paul Newman. Those close to Kieron spent many of nights watching Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Who would have known Luke's passing would go unnoticed by his biggest fan.