I grew up playing card games with adults at a pretty early age – Casino, Cribbage, Pinochle – but in my first year of college at the University of Colorado I had three roommates who played bridge, so it goes without saying they needed to teach me. And did I enjoy it! I could never play Pinochle again knowing how much more fun it was to play Bridge.

Unfortunately I also NEVER played Bridge for more than 20 years after that freshman year. But I read the bridge columns and tried a clumsy solitaire Bridge machine until 17 or so years ago  I just happened to mention Bridge to my church volunteer burger cooking partner and learned there was an actual club to play Bridge in Grants Pass. We practiced for a few weeks at the downtown Dutch Bros and finally made our appearance at the club. We felt like pinatas as pair after pair  – sometimes with barely hidden glee – jumped on our mistakes and inexperience. We were playing Goren at best and playing all the wrong cards.

But immediately those same people began to invite us to private lessons to learn Stayman, Jacoby 2NT and for crying out loud not to underlead your ace in a suit contract!

Doug Merritt and I became regular partners and our biggest combined strength was a good understanding of each other’s bids – as we had learned together – and never a hard feeling when we had a misunderstanding or a misplay, Doug went on to become a Life Master some years ago and now he teaches and mentors players in Grants Pass. I’ll never be as good as Doug but if I ever learn to count to 13 watch out!

I moved to Eugene in 2009 and had a similarly forgiving partner – Marcia Fabian – but time to play at Emerald Bridge has been at a premium as much as I enjoy Don Marsh and the people who play there. To support Emerald  I play the online Support Your Local Club game five to six times a week where I’ve been able to pick up my black points since the COVID-19 pandemic.

I only wish I could be a better ambassador to bring people the joy I’ve experienced playing Bridge. To sum it up, as my late friend Phyllis Williams would say, “Goodbye Cruel World, I’m playing bridge…”