Congratulations to these players who moved up in ACBL Rank in May!

New NABC Master:  Evelyn Lawrence

New Bronze Life Master: Rebecca Habel

Welcome Back!

Reinstated Member: David Alexander

Raleigh Master Point Winners –

19.53             Brian Schoenfeld Virginia Beach, VA

19.53             Muh-Sha Crawford Hampton, VA

12.88             Barbara Duer Virginia Beach, VA

12.88             Joann Tucker Norfolk, Va

Other masterpoint winners included Linda Ankers, Caroline Riegle, Pam Boyce, Louise Gordon, Marshall Hutto, and Sandra Starkey.  Apologies to Brian and Muh-Sha for missing you the first three times I went through the winners.

NLM-Only Game  - Don't forget there is a NLM Only game held at the Bridge Center on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 9:30 AM,.  The entry fee for the game will be $10/person.  Please come and join us!

Nowadays, children who finish kindergarten don a cap and gown and they receive a “diploma.” Earning the Life Master Certificate feels much the same. 

If you accept the analogy, before kindergarten, I could barely crawl. Once I began to walk, I stumbled regularly and took some falls. In preschool, I learned to read handouts and books on bridge. I was lucky enough to play with and learn from teachers and advanced players. Most of my playmates were patient and supportive.

At the beginning of kindergarten, I began to count to 13, then to 40, and finally to see the 3,3,3,4 pattern as weak and the 5, 5, 2, 1 pattern as strong. I learned the word “pass” and understood it more deeply than before.

During kindergarten, I took field trips to exciting places earning gold and silver points.  I played with my peers while the older kids did more advanced things in the other rooms. Taking other field trips regularly to the beach, my partners and I built sandcastles only to have the upperclassmen tear them down or the waves wash them away. Nevertheless, sometimes our castles were beautiful and lasted—to be admired by upperclassmen--which was the best feeling in the world. 

The lessons I embrace now that kindergarten is behind me are:  1) to swing as high as I can (with my partner beside me) pressing the limits of the swing set feeling that it could fall over because we are both so high in the sky; 2) to collect beautiful and unusual shells on beach field trips (which represent conventions and good plays); and 3) to see the beauty in the game by bidding the hand and playing the hand as dealt.

First grade and the grades beyond promise exciting challenges. Among them are finding and keeping partners with similar goals and temperament. I look forward to the future.

Know someone who would appreciate a get well or condolence card.
Select the "Contact Us, Sunshine" from left menu and fill in form.
A card will be sent to the person by the Unit.

Many of you are receiving email from club owners about upcoming events and other bridge topics, even if you never signed up for them.  The club owners probably obtained your email from the ACBL roster.  The ACBL terms of use (found at https://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/termsofuse.pdf) allow them to send information about ACBL-sanctioned bridge events and announcements and newsletters discussing activities of the respective club, Unit, or District.  If you don't want to receive their emails then send them a note to direct them to remove you from their mailing list.  If they won't honor your wishes then let me know.

Emails from the Unit will be sent using the database we maintain on BridgeWebs, which is also updated with the ACBL roster.  If you want to opt out of those, you can either use the Contact Us form on the web page or else you can update your member profile in the Member Area (under Membership).  If neither of those work then contact the webmaster, Wrus Kristiansen, or myself.

P. Haglich