Play Bridge! #7 of Blog: "Life Begins at Ninety"

I love to play bridge.  It is not the losing or winning  really,  it is  meeting strangers from all over the world at any time  day or night. That is, when I play bridge online on my computer. Then I can choose the partners from all over the world who are awake when I am.  The local bridge club meets in the afternoon, when I take a nap, so my brain isn't connected so well.  But very early in the morning, I am sharp, and can choose to play sitting in my living room in my pajamas!

Mostly those who enter the online bridge "room" to play are polite and pleasant, with great sense of humour, but once in a while you get a real”weirdo”  trying to shock. BBO - Bridge Base Online - suspends such people if you bother to report. Imagine some men from Turkey and other far away countries started to flirt with me! I labeled them "enemy," blocked from my table whenever I play. 

   
So even sitting alone at home, one is  entertained for few hours.

We try to exercise our limbs, so how about our brain?  The game well played shows  that in spite of aching bones our head is performing well.  I tell you it is a great pleasure that immediately you know if your partner is kind or egocentric, smart or  dumb, and if they are annoying, one can always  leave.... One click and you are gone!

     
A few years ago I made a good friend playing bridge with a woman named Conny in Holland, and finally she said,  “Why don’t we meet in Europe?"

At that time I still traveled every year  to Europe, and so I decided to visit her in Emmen, Holland, (close to Germany) where there is a very known hospital,one of the  largest in  Europe. Conny’s husband had been a doctor who had survived Japanese occupation  with his parents in Indochina, which had been a Dutch colony. Only 4 children survived – he was one of them. 

Since we did not yet know how to identify each other at the airport, Conny said to me that she would be wearing a yellow coat.  So I answered, "I'll wear a yellow coat too!"   We saw each other and immediately embraced. 

   
Now Conny and I visit each other every year at least once, in Sedona, Arizona, or in Cape Cod.  We play in different tournaments and write email almost  daily -- a really close friendship which started on the computer.

Once  I played  with a man  from Hong Kong, China.  The identifying label above his name read, “I am  kosher.”  Not every day  do you find such a strange combination. He explained during the game: his mother was Jewish and father Chinese,  and he was brought up Catholic.

After playing on and off for 2 years,  I received a little package. I opened the delicate  rice paper, and on it was a lovely painting of roses by a known Chinese woman artist. This was a gift from my Chinese bridge partner.  The note inside read:  “You will enjoy this more then I will, since you are a painter." I had it framed and enjoy looking at it every day. Another bridge connection.

My clever Aunt Ruth told me many years ago-  "Learn bridge! One day you won't be able to play tennis or other sports perhaps, but bridge you can play forever, and it keeps your mind clear. You will never be lonely in old age!!!" 

We somehow never think of ourselves as being old, but suddenly one day  I looked in the mirror and saw my Aunt Munda  (one of Aunt Ruth's seven sisters)...where did I go?

  
Most of my new friends are 20-30 years younger.  I never expected so much fun  and after reaching 90!  Maybe it is not the age, but how alive and open one remains... learning new things!

So I'm telling my own stories on this blog, "Life Begins at Ninety," and I look forward to hearing more stories from my new friends, in person for coffee with brandy and whipped cream, or online. Or maybe you want to be my partner and play bridge?