sportsmanship

We've established a system at this house - she plays scrabble with her (and often loses) and she plays upwords with me (and often loses). Sad, I know, but true.

Today I challenged her to another rousing round of word play - she never passes up a chance to exercise her mental wit =) I went first, but quickly forfeited a turn in exchange for new letters - seven tiles, all vowels, A-I-E-E-I-I-A - simply would not work for me. This decision, however, allowed my competition to soar over thirty points ahead of me. Her comment at that time? "At least maybe I can win something." Yeah - she was kicking my butt...in the proverbial sense.

Fast forward forty minutes or so - she forfeits a turn (the 'Qu' did not appeal to her) and I am given opportunity to close the gap. Within two turns the score is tied: 230 to 230. Not surprised (we are often evenly matched), she refuses to give in and still holds on to her dream of winning.

Fast forward again - I lay my last tile, forcing her to subtract the tiles she has left. When all is tallied, I win by a mere four points.

Her only comment to me? "I hate you." (said in the most loving sense of course) =)