I'm on the way up

I am KEYED up tonight. I don't know when I will be able to fall asleep. I've been home for about 15-20 minutes and I am EXCITED.

I learned to play bridge about 5-6 years ago. We played with our friends (who taught us to play) at their house or ours over the course of about a year or so. And then life changed, got busy and we kind of stopped playing. I would play from time to time online and sometimes Kris would play with me but we really kind of just stopped playing on a regular basis.

Then, last Wednesday, Mary asked if we wanted to help them practice for this tournament that was coming up. We said 'sure'. So we practiced with them last Thursday through this past Monday night, every day. Refreshing our memories and game play. We decided early on in our 'practice' last week that we would get a sitter if possible and play as often as we could in the tournament. May as well try it out-thought it would be fun.

Tuesday night was our first night at the tournament. Even then we did not come in last place, which felt pretty good considering we have never played bridge in public before. We had fun, we learned some things, we made some mistakes.

Wednesday night, a bit of the same. This time we didn't make as many mistakes and we still had fun. Thursday was much of the same, only I found myself more disappointed that we didn't do 'better' because I felt like we were 'on' our game last night.

Anyway, I was really drained today. We had been working all day, then playing bridge and not getting home until midnight every night. But I thought "I'm just going to have fun and not think about the competition aspect of it." We had a good night tonight. We played well together. We made a couple mistakes, we missed a couple bids. But overall, I had so much fun and we played well. Kris did great. He got a little more bold tonight and it paid off.

Now if you don't know much about bridge, you may not know that you can earn Master Points. I don't know that these points mean anything beyond giving you a 'status' within the bridge realm. But if you enjoy playing bridge and you are going to play in a club or in a tournament, you want Master Points. They have different levels: black, red, silver and gold. Each color is worth more than the one before it. When you play at a local club you can earn black points. In this tournament at the level we were at, you can earn red points.

Kris and I, being BRAND NEW to playing bridge in public, have held our own all week. We haven't looked like fools or been super easy opponents, at least I don't think so. We haven't been in last place either any night at all, so that to me was almost enough! It means that though we do not have nearly as much experience as pretty much everyone else there, we have played well.

And tonight I am happy, excited, proud, THRILLED to announce that Kris and I earned Master Points tonight! We each earned .68 RED points. I know it's not a whole point. HOWEVER, it can take years to earn points. So we have a great start to what I know will be a continued pursuit of Master Points! It was a very fun, exciting and thoroughly fulfilling night for us both.

We will play in the tournament tomorrow night as well. At this point though, I am beyond content! It has been an awesome experience and I have met a lot of great people. I am excited to play with my new friends again tomorrow night but will be sad to say goodbye to them. But perhaps I will see them again next year!