Winners Lose

Friday night we were invited to some friends house for dinner.  Actually I had only met the gentleman of the house since he serves on the same committee as Ray.  I had never met his wife so naturally I felt hesitant and a bit bad because they were giving up a rare unscheduled Friday night to entertain us. I was really impressed they were so hospitable and kind to us.

We went with some certain expectations.  Ray and I are always on the lookout for a potential married couple older than us (60's) to become our parents.  We never share our intent because we don't want to scare them off.  Rather we try to reel them in slowly.   For the record, we know we have wonderful parents so I'm not discounting that in the least.  At all.  It's just we don't get to see them as much as we would like.  Our pseudo parents would fill another role.  They are the ones with the house on the hill that always smells like fresh brewed coffee.  We would sit together in church and then go out to breakfast afterwards.  They would come to all the functions we are involved in and sometimes sit with us in our community group.  They would take the kids for the weekend and sometimes we would go on big family vacations to places like Orcas Island, WA and Bend, Oregon. 

I know it is a lot to ask of a couple so we would ease into it slowly.  So far, no one has been up to the challenge.  Their biological kids keep getting in the way, thwarting our plans.  We have tried with I think 3 couples now.  No one is interested.

Imagine our delight when we were asked to join this wonderful couple for dinner.  This looked promising.  We had a fantastic meal, the kids behaved beautifully and all around enjoyed a wonderful evening of sharing.  Ray and I gave each other the look.  The odds were in our favor.  This could be it.

Then they brought out the card game...

I am clueless when it comes to card games.  Any game at all for that matter.  I never understand them and I am easily confused.  I let them know this prior to the game starting and they assured me it was easy peasy.

As the game progressed I noticed the table grew a bit quiet and  I could see a bit of a competitive nature emerging.  I kept up a conversation about this and that but no one was engaging with me.  Hmmmm....

The second round started and then a third and a fourth.  Generally you play 9 rounds but the game abruptly stopped after the 4th round.  Unbeknownst to me, I had won every round and I didn't even know it.  I guess for active game players that doesn't settle well.

That act alone sealed our fate.  We would never be able to call them our adopted parents. Our mission had failed.  We would not be invited back.

Now on to the next unsuspecting couple.  For thing is for sure, I will never unknowingly win a game again!