Before I start, I just want to point out the Ian... I WAS ALSO AT THAT LAS VEGAS NATIONAL, and we did have dinner together.

I learned to play bridge when I was 8.  Someone taught my older sister and her friends to play.  I was the 'emergency fourth' whenever necessary.   I learned more about boys than I did about bridge.

Years later, my freshman year at college, I discovered a group of people who liked to play cards  (in many cases, preferred playing to going to class).  Spades, hearts, and, finally, bridge.  No one had much training or experience.  Some made up their own conventions.  I refused to play with my then-boyfriend  (now husband) because he invented conventions such as the Stoker 1 Diamond - which was a singleton Ace of Diamonds.

We played some social bridge, but didn't have much free time  When we moved to Virginia, I started looking for bridge players.  I met someone who invited us to our first duplicate game.  This was before bidding boxes or scoring machines.  The location?  The United States State Department Building.  Someone had to vouch for you and you went through a metal detector.  At the time, I did not have a photo ID.  T

We played some duplicate after that - and went to a few sectional tournaments.  After our son was born, we stopped playing for a few years.  Then  I started playing again, and we went to some local games and tournaments.  I also started playing on line.  First, it was Yahoo, then a few others, and finally, almost 15 years ago, I found BBO.

Started doing more reading and studying.  Played much more than my husband.  By the time I was a life master, and we had to play in the open games, it appeared that our mistakes were becoming very costly.  Especially when you have to play against Mike Cappelitti in an open club game.  We stopped playing together, and I found some new partners.  I even went to some Regionals without partners and used the partnership desk.

Since I had been a high school teacher, the idea of becoming a bridge teacher interested me.  I became accredited and started teaching on-line.  I am now a Ruby Life Master.  I spend (too much) time on BBO every day and play f2f whenever I can.

I've met over 25 people from BBO at tournaments, and hope to meet more.

Everyone knows that I 'talk' a great deal, so no one should be surprised at the length of this all.

Grant,
Thank you for sharing.  Now we all know... when Grant is playing, keep chatting!