Losing Scrabble

So the other night Brandon and I were trying to figure out what to do. I was tired of watching movies and we weren't yet ready for bed so I suggested we play a game. Brandon was 'game' for the idea and we settled on Scrabble.

About 1/2 way through the game, it was VERY evident that I was loosing...BADLY. Like by 70 points badly. I'm competitive enough that I started to get frustrated by my inability to catch up and became increasingly pouty and grumpy. It was pure torture having high-point letters like J and Z and being unable to use the available "Tripple Word Score" squares.

I kept moaning about how sucky the game was and how it was no fair that he can play these amazing words like "Gritty" and "Panic" and "Quake" and get oodles of points. Brandon finally says something like, "Well, you're the one who wanted to play Scrabble."

"What does that mean??" I say.

"Well, I think you knew it was going to be like this."

And ugh, he was totally right. My husband is a genius at word games. It is practically uncanny. Is that the right word to use there, dear? You'll call me on it if I'm wrong. And that's one of the things I love about you.

So anyway, I suddenly felt unjustified in my complaints and admitted to myself that yes, I knew I was going to loose before we even started. I then stammered, "Ok, yeah, you're right....but I didn't think I was going to loose THIS badly...as in nearly-a-100-points-behind badly!"

"That's OK, dear" he said. "Tables can quickly turn in Scrabble."

I gave him the eye roll signifying, "Yeah right, not in this game." We laughed about it and I took a deep breath, reminded myself that it was just a game, and we played on.

He then let me use words like "dow" (you know, as in the dow-jones?) and "gloved" ('she gloved her hands before stepping outside'--that's totally a word, huh?) to get more points. Although I knew I was playing questionable words, getting more points did made me feel better.

There will be other Scrabble matches in the future, no doubt. And I'll probably continue to loose. But there is always that chance that I'll rise to the challenge and kick his little butt. ;)