Story by Hilary Bobker (BBO: HilaryB46)
I never intended to disrespect my mother. In fact, I didn’t even realize it had happened. But I get ahead of myself.
Back in 1963—you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth—my mother decided she would love to play some bridge again. She had been without a partner or a game for many years. Unfortunately, she decided it would be a good idea to teach me and some of my friends how to play. On the face of it, that sounds like a good plan. The mistake was that she taught more than three of us.
It didn’t take long for four of us to start playing without her. We were in high school. Why would we want to play with a “grown-up” when we had a foursome of kids? We would begin playing on Friday after school and continue until curfew. Saturday morning, we would be at it again until curfew. Sunday was the same.
I’m not saying that our grades suffered, but… well, they probably did. We all graduated in 1965 and went on to college, but none of us were valedictorian—just saying. Not that I would ever blame that on our addiction to bridge.
Fast forward many years and countless games later, played with family and friends, to a dry spell. There was no one to play with. Then I met my (second) husband—and he played bridge! I said yes for many reasons, but bridge was close to the top.
We found a bridge club and started to play. We also discovered that the game we learned in high school was not the game being played now, so we took the beginners’ class. We met people in that class who continue to be good friends more than 15 years later.
One might think that should be the end of the story. I mean, I have been playing for over 60 years. I should know how to play, right?
But for the last several years I have been playing on BBO with a very kind mentor. It turns out that I am still learning the game. Sad, really. He is very kind to me. We play the game, then I call him and we go over what I did wrong. He never yells at me. He only says, “Hilary, I believe we have discussed this before.”
There is a place in heaven for him. I just hope there is a game there.