I spend a lot of time thinking about bridge and feel as if I’m slowly but surely inching closer to a deeper understanding of the game. I am not, however, a naturally gifted bridge player. I’ve been remiss in recognizing some of my weaknesses, and for sure I’ve repeated the same mistakes too often. But the positive flip side may be that I’m persistent. Every game and every post mortem helps in some way to move me along to better bridge.
I am grateful to teachers Joann Glasson, Kevin Wilson, and Beth Rosenthal and to all the people over the last several years I’ve been lucky enough to call regular partners: George Marcy, Harold Koehler, Ellen Preece, Linda Blickman, and Beth Dimler. There are so many generous and talented players who have answered my questions, given me encouragement, or recommended a resource. It takes a village to help aspiring players grow, and I’ve been helped immeasurably by the bridge communities in Unit 120 and the King of Prussia Bridge Club. I will always be especially grateful to my friends from Northeastern PA who helped get me over the LM finish line in Fairfield, NJ: Harold Koehler, Vicki Tarleton, and Jim Post. It feels very good to have met what for me has always been the first big milestone. So much more to learn, and I am super happy to be on the journey.
My goal to be an expert seems far away, but I love bridge, the beauty of the game, great people, nice partners. Ten of my favorite memories:
I took my first bridge lesson after I retired. I like my local club, KOP, people are nice and the more experience players give great lessons. I’ve been playing duplicate bridge for almost two years. It took me longer than I hoped to reach this milestone but I feel I’m improving and enjoy playing.
I started playing bridge back in the old days when you were given small pieces of paper with your points earned. I think you were supposed to mail them in to record the points with the ACBL. Unfortunately I never remembered to do that. Time went by and I stopped playing for many years when my children were little. Several years ago I returned to the table. So much had changed , so many new master levels. But it was still the game I loved. And oh, how I love this game. Besides being fun, sociable, mind stimulating, and of course a bit stressful, there is the reward of another master level to strive for. I am so excited to now call myself an NABC Master and look forward to becoming a Life Master. That may be a long ways off but I’ll sure have fun getting there.