Story by (BBO: Jobuwo)

In the Netherlands, bridge clubs often organize bridge pub tournaments. You play four boards in one pub, then walk to another pub where you play four more boards, and so on. This can take all day. In between, you have lunch, and the “kroegendrive,” as we call it, ends in the bridge club’s building.

This was also the case in Vianen on 25 May 2013. As a widow, I had moved to this beautiful medieval town, where I joined the local bridge club to meet new people in a new town.

While walking through the streets from one pub to another, I ran into the same (good-looking) man several times. We chatted a little and then went on our way. His partner, Joan, a member of my club, asked me during lunch if it would be OK for her to give him my phone number. I agreed, although I had never met him before that day.

At the clubhouse, she encouraged him to ask me out, and so he did. I told him I would like that, but that I was about to go on holiday. Then Joan urged him to ask me out that same night. Although he had planned to visit Joan and her husband that evening, he agreed to take me out instead.

We were, as they say, “in our own bubble” there at the bridge club.

Weeks later, a member of my club asked me, “Did it work out with that man?”

Later, he picked me up at my house. He came inside, and we started talking, and talking, and talking… At 10:30 PM, we were still talking (and kissing carefully, I admit) and decided to make a meal with whatever was in my fridge. It all went very well. It felt so natural and relaxed.

At dinner, I asked him whether he would like another glass of wine, and he replied, “No, thank you. I have to drive.”

I answered that there was no need for him to go, and that he might as well stay over… and he did.

The next day, I went on holiday with a girlfriend, and two weeks later, he was at my doorstep with a nice bottle of wine and red roses.

The rest is history! We got married on 4 November 2014, and we have a great marriage.

But let me tell you this: our marriage is way better than our bridge partnership!

If we ever argue, it is at the bridge table.