The Bridge Rebel

 I have to admit that while I am an old lady with decades of  a profession behind her, thank goodness, I am a bit of a rebel these days. This is about my last whack at life, therefore, I do almost everything my way. It doesn't mean I am one of those old ladies who snarls at people and sniffs at their habits. No, I am one of those secret rebels who practices her rebellions in surreptitious ways. Bridge Games, for example, are one of my quiet rebellions. For years I was escorted to foursomes and sat around the table wondering what was going on. I had been taught how to play but my mind didn't grasp it. My mind told me that there was more to life at that point, than Bridge. I played, but since everyone seemed deadly serious, I felt they were too experienced at the game to have me around but they were generous enough to let me play dummy a lot. I was good at it. Many years later, when the the excellent players all died off, literally, I began to take the game more seriously. I could no longer fake it. I had cut my teeth so to speak at the Bridge table by deciding I simply wanted to have fun, thus I paid more attention to what was going on. During the Covid stay-at-home time, I discovered online Bridge and that became my epiphany. There was no one to scowl at me or tighten their neck muscles when I bid. There was no one yammering away at what I "should" have done or "could" have done. I just played and forgot about having to remember every card played and every convention and simply got the cards, read them a bit, and did the speed Bridge thing. I still do and I am, for some reason, getting pretty good scores. Online Bridge is meeting real people from anywhere but who may hide merrily behind their code names. If you dally too long online, the computer bids for you. But still, you meet players who, when they receive their hand, feel compelled to keep everyone else waiting while they duke out exactly how they will play. I can almost hear the wheels turning. Bridge isn't like chess exactly but there are some tactics that are a bit over the wall. I like to use them. I bid anytime regardless of how many points I have ,when I guess that I just might be able to make it. If I don't, of course, respecting my partner, I am not going to hang up my folding chair in shame. Winning the game isn't my objective as much as playing my best and playing well and having fun at it. All Bridge players are well aware that it's a good game when this happens and not necessarily the final score.  A good part game can be very satisfying. One of the groups I played with for a time, were learners. I am an eternal learner so I get it. But these ladies who all knew each other and their instructor woman, agonized over every bid and spent time adding up their scores and sweating out the plays  and just about everything else but the colour of the cards. Some even teared up when they made a stupid mistake. I was glad I didn't golf with them. At the end of the playing, no one had tea. They all went home either with higher blood pressure or apoplexy or triumphant good-byes. I have never yearned how to keep score or play the conventions that some Bridge players boast about. I just want to play those cards to their limit and perhaps make some great moves. Playing a lot, as I do now, one naturally remembers what cards have played and who played what when. It comes with time and relaxation. You gain a few tricky moves of your own and you use your instinct a great deal. One chap I liked, when he sat down at the Bridge table announced to everyone, I play by the seat of my pants. Now that fella enjoys Bridge.