A “Bridge” over Troubled “Gin” Waters — Card Games for Teens and Grown-Ups
So Bridge and Gin are a little more complicated than the others we’ve talked about, but frankly if you want to get your sullen teenagers off of their loner devices — television, video games, iPods, books, etc. — then get them involved with some more sophisticated card game fare. Gin and Bridge are great games to play and we’re pretty sure that the minute Mad Men shows a smoke-filled room of grown-ups playing Bridge (maybe they already have and I’ve forgotten?) the game is going to make a resurgence in hipster lairs all over the country.
Actually I was just visiting a friend out in the suburbs and she has a Mah Jong table set up, and it got me thinking that maybe I should do the same thing? Perhaps the Book Clubs of my mom’s generation will make way for Bridge and Mah Jong as I shift into lower gear. When is that going to be exactly? Well a quick search on the Internet has proved that Bridge remains very popular, but the scenes that my mom and her brothers witnessed from the top stairs of their childhood home and all the ladies on card tables, with candy dishes and ashtrays are a faint memory (at least the smoke and candy!)
Anyway. This photo is of me, Kelly, Robert and his model-gorgeous mom, Connie playing Bridge at a beach house in Salvo, North Carolina. This is one of the happiest memories I have from my early teens. As I have always adored Connie because she is just so pretty — all kids love pretty people, they are very superficial that way — but she’s also one of the kindest and happiest people I have ever met and I needed a lot of that sunshine when I was 13. Connie is the wife of my dad’s oldest friend and being around her as a teen-ager was like having your own personal Princess Di. As you can see, she was and is that beautiful. Frankly, I think she is more objectively beautiful than Princess Diana but they both have a similar internal beauty.
Connie also has a sweet melodic voice and an enthusiasm for life that always lifts my soul. She gave me beauty tips that week on the beach — which is like catnip for youngsters — and she taught me the game of Bridge. (We also played a lot of Faker that week too.) While I have forgotten how to play Bridge I have not forgotten what Connie said after the cards were dealt and she got to see her hand, “It’s like Christmas morning!” And more than anything I wanted to learn everything she knew about Bridge, life, and beauty so some of it could rub off on me and I could take the hand that life dealt me with the same kind of excitement as a child on Christmas morning.
Whenever I can get the chance to visit my dad’s home town, I do. To see my grandpa, but also to see Connie and her family. Her husband Bob always makes me laugh out loud and their son Robert is now a fine young man, a promising young politician who puts all other politicians to shame. Even more, he is the father of FOUR BOYS. I know his wife is also pretty amazing too. Frankly going to see the Spragues is like getting a booster shot of sunshine and love. Can’t leave their house not smiling.
So, if you want to get Christmas morning all the time, then take up the game of Bridge. Get those kids off the couch and in front of a table with a little candy dish of M&Ms and maybe some pop. Or if you don’t have an even four, settle for some Gin. The card game that is, not the drink of course. And if you do get off the couch? Maybe you’ll get some of that sunshine too.