I stepped into the room as they were setting up the mats and said “I want to learn.” Jules demanded I get a name tag and plopped across from me. “Set me up,” he said and I fumbled through the pieces trying to figure out where the castle thing went, which was the queen and which side the black pieces belonged.
Jules glanced at the board, made a minor change and went through each piece, firing off what they were, what they did and how they moved. Then he demanded that I capture his king.
In a small voice I said, “I can’t. I don’t know how.”
He: “Yes you can. Do it.”
Me: (scared and feeling slow) uh…
He: “Do it! I’m getting a cookie.”
And so it went. Me, learning how to play chess, him muttering encouraging words, muttering sarcastic words, not letting me giggle my way through the lesson, encouraging me to relax and stop worrying about what I didn’t know, forcing me to think of how and WHY I made a move.
Yesterday, I started to learn how to play chess. Me!
Years ago the dad tried to show me but he was not a great teacher and we both grew frustrated and I declared that that game was not for me. But after setting up the board, hearing the teens excitedly sharing their thoughts on the game and thinking about Ron and Harry’s Wizard chess I stopped worrying about what I did before and was able to play a game.
I lost. My queen, the rook, the horse, all the pawns but I won.
I didn’t get to giggle my way out of learning, I didn’t allow myself to give up when I felt like I would not get it and I didn;t get mad.
I’ll be back, ready to learn and play and lose.
Time!
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
- Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
- Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. This is writing in the raw.
- Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
- Link back to this post (feel free to use the SOC Sunday graphic).
- Add your post to the link up
- Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.
I’ve always said I’d like to learn how to play chess. I need someone to throw me in to learning it just like you’ve written here.
I’ve been playing chess all my life and until recently, I just thought it was something everyone knew how to play. I’m finding more and more grown-ups don’t know how to play. Truth be told, I don’t have the attention span for the game. And after all these years of playing, I still lose 😉
Kudos to you having the patience to learn Chess. I’ve never taken that leap. I grew up loving to play Backgammon but Chess is a whole different level. Hopping over from #SOCSunday