Today my daughter challenged me to a “quick” game of chess. Of course I said yes. We sat on our patio in the late afternoon sun, her dad’s chessboard set up between us. 

Ken taught me to play many years ago. As with most things he committed to, he was a remarkably good chess player and I never came close to beating him. Both of our sons played in chess clubs in school and participated in tournaments. My youngest, especially, loved the game. He and I used to play regularly and were evenly matched (when he was 9!). 

My daughter, though, had no interest in chess as a child so I was surprised when she recently started studying the game. Today, as she set the board up, Haley confessed that, while she understands the rules, this would be her first actual game. 

No worries, I thought. We’ll have a nice, easy game, test her knowledge of the way the pieces move, have fun so she’ll want to play again. Right? Yeah. She kicked my butt. We played for more than 3 hours and ended in a draw. It was fantastic. 

And yes, I did sacrifice my queen so I wouldn’t lose the game. It wasn’t pretty.

Moments like today are the reason we endure all the rest.

We are still doing lots of cooking, by the way. Yesterday, I used the overripe bananas to make chocolate chip, peanut butter, banana bread (and muffins). It’s my own recipe. If you want it, let me know and I’ll write it up for you. Tonight, because I spent three hours playing chess, we used some leftover rice to make a quick chicken fried rice. It was delicious — also no recipe but I’m happy to provide details if you haven’t tried to make it before.

Tomorrow, back to work on the novel.

Stay safe.