I started playing bridge at the age of 40 with my mother, father, and husband. We played rubber bridge together until we lost Dad.

My mother, Lila Gleitman, learned to play bridge at age 9 with her mother. She is now 89.

Mom and I started playing duplicate bridge at District 4 about a month ago. As a school teacher, I had two weeks off over the holidays to play daily with her. Mom is the real card shark. With severe macular degeneration, she can barely see the cards, but that hasn’t changed her ability to play bridge. Give her an extra 30 seconds, and she is able to arrange her hand and start bidding.

Lila Gleitman and I discovered the Valley Forge Bridge Club, emailed them, and were welcomed warmly. I can’t say enough about the people at this club. Everyone is serious about bridge, but not so serious that they can’t stop and say hello and make us feel welcome at every turn. Actually, it was suggested to me last week by another player that perhaps the person who plays south (Mom always plays south at Valley Forge) arrange the cards after playing the hand. In this way, when the cards reach Mom, it will make it a bit easier for her. That will help our game and speed things along.