It is time to learn bridge. Some people learn bridge from the time they have learned to read. Their parents need a fourth and...

Some people learn bridge to survive residence and being away from home. When I prepared to go to Edinburgh to take my teachers' training. (How's that for name dropping?) my mother suggested that I learn bridge which surprised me. It turned out that she knew how to play bridge as did my father. I actually never saw them play until the first great ice storm. That was after I had returned from Edinburgh and was in my first year of teaching. The boy from up the street - I never really knew his name- came down and the four of us played bridge around the fireplace.

That was the last time I saw my parents play bridge and it was probably the last time I played bridge until now.

Now I am of an age where it is time to play bridge in order to hold on to brain cells.

There is a group who plays regularly - all retired teachers - an ideal environment because they are willing not only to put up with me but to teach me.

And I have my Bridge for Dummies which I must have picked up somewhere knowing that there would be a time in my life when I wanted to play bridge to hold on to my brain cells.

What I didn't have was a pack of cards to practice with and thus the picture. I went to buy a pack of cards. I picked out what looked like a classic pack of cards with a design I remembered from childhood. Fortunately the man behind the counter realized I was new to this game and pointed out that this pack cost twenty-five dollars and in fact if I were really going to play cards, I would need two packs!

I didn't have the courage to tell him that I doubted I would ever be hosting a bridge game and so I didn't need two packs. I chose the cute kittens packs and inwardly grimaced. I have owned cats since practically that first year of teaching. I have never owned kittens. They terrify me. I get my cats when they have a modicum of decency.

Somewhere along the way I actually read and underlined salient points in Bridge for Dummies. That makes my second reading much easier. I tried to explain the importance of underlining to some new friends - all librarians. I never suggested I would underline a library book...but that didn't matter. They weren't impressed.