Story by Margaret Geittmann (BBO: margie276)

My husband is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist, and I’m a nurse. We are both retired. We met in the Operating Room when he brought in a patient from the Emergency Room by himself while I was on call. When he rolled in his patient, I asked him if the hospital had run out of transports. He said he’d rather bring his patient on his own, which I admired.

Then, when I couldn’t find the button on the ER cart to transfer the patient to the OR bed, I said, “Where’s the button? I can’t find the button.” He responded, “Let me help you, I’m good at finding buttons.” I responded, “You can find my button anytime!”—joking and loving his humor.

When I asked why it took him so long to get married—he was 39—he said he loved golf, bridge, and sailing and didn’t want to be told he couldn’t golf because of a birthday, anniversary, etc.

So when he proposed, he said I needed to learn to golf, play bridge, and love sailing. Check, check, and check! Six months before we married, he was teaching me bridge because we were going on a sailing trip with a colleague of his and his wife. When we played bridge on the boat for the first time, I did a finesse, and he jumped up and yelled, “She did it! She learned to play bridge!” That confirmed his commitment to get married.

After being married for a while, we started to play duplicate bridge in the evening at a club, but we couldn’t continue because of work and call schedules.

After retirement, we continued playing bridge at a club and online when Covid hit. I played with a robot because a lady asked if he would play with her. She knew he was a good player, and she was a Ruby Life Master. I later became a Bronze Life Master online. Then I didn’t play at the club after Covid.

I returned to play after learning of my husband’s devastating news of late-stage cancer. I was depressed, and bridge brought me back to life. He sometimes plays with me too! Thank you for bridge!