When I saw that the challenge from Linda G. Hill for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to use the word “card,” the first thing that popped into my head was the dreaded Monopoly card, the one that tells you to go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200. And then, being the optimist that I am, I thought of the get out of jail free card.

Then I thought of how the word “card” can be used to describe certain types of people. Like a “card shark” (or “card sharp” if you’re British) as someone who cheats at cards. Or when you refer to someone who is an amusing or odd person as a card, like in “that guy Paul is a real card.”

And then I thought about a card as a list of acts at a club, festival, or similar event, where you might want to know “who’s on the card at the comedy club tonight?”

Of course, there are card games, like poker, gin rummy, hearts, or solitaire. And greeting cards for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and all kinds of holidays.

But finally I started thinking about life, as in the cards you’re dealt. I’ve actually heard two variations on the “cards you’re dealt” theme. One is kind of fatalistic. It says that, “You gotta play the game with the cards you’ve been dealt.”

Personally, though, I prefer the other variation, the one that promotes being more proactive and taking greater responsibility for how you live your life. It says, “It’s not about the cards you’ve been dealt, it’s about how you play the hand.”