The Competitive Spirit

We might be a slightly competitive couple.  Just slightly.  Sometime we will have to share the story of our decathlon date.  This past week has provided us with many competitive opportunities which we have enjoyed, starting with this weekend when we met with Arthur's family for a belated Christmas gathering. We had dinner and then hit the bowling alley.  I think it is safe to say that none of us are stellar bowlers, but we had a good time.  Arthur and I have been bowling together once before (strangely enough it was an event during our decathlon date.)  I would also mention I was on the 4th place intramural bowling team one year.  Granted there were only 4 teams.  I will blame part of our team's poor performance on the fact my bowling was hampered by a broken finger suffered in intramural flag football.  Last weekend Arthur and I split games- he won one and I won one so it was even (I may have had the high game score though).  Now about every day Arthur wants to go bowling.

We also got the game Settlers of Catan from Arthur's parents for Christmas.  We have only had it a few days but have already played several games.  In the game you are trying to settle an island and have different resources.  You can trade resources with other players and want to get enough resources to build settlements and cities to expand you territory.  It might be the one strategy game that Arthur and I both like and enjoy playing together.  It's also been pretty equal on who wins.  The first time I played Settlers was with a group of Arthur and his friends.  I had no idea what the strategy was for the game and the whole time the guys were talking about economics and politics as relating to the games.  About half way through the game I realized that I didn't know the objective of the game or how it is determined who wins.  Once this was explained to me I figured out that I was a few points from winning and started paying attention, and I pulled out the upset.  We also played this game with my family a few weekends ago.  Certain members of my family gets so competitive that other members won't play board games with them.

Which brings us to the other competition we have been involved in lately.  This was the 10th Annual Family Bowl Champion Series.  Each year we all pick the winners of 10 bowl games.  Whoever picks the most games right wins the coveted BCS Bowl-- a large blue popcorn bowl full of snacks and the winner's name written on the side in black marker.  Over the years this has turned into quite a tradition.  One rule that has developed is that significant others can begin to participate once they are engaged to a member of the family but cannot be a winner until they are legally family.  This year we almost had to enforce this rule but my brother's fiance ended up getting second.  My sister-in-law pulled out the victory.  It actually came down to a 4 way tie going into the final game and my sister-in-law won in a double tie breaker by picking the margin of victory correctly.  Arthur and I came in about the middle of the pack so I wasn't able to defend my win last year.

While Arthur and I enjoy competing against one another (and maybe rubbing it in when we win), I think we also make a really great team working together.  Omnia Vincit Amor.