Spades

Spades

“Is this shirt too tight?” I asked Mel. The blue, Hollister, t-shirt was gripping my arms like it was holding on for dear life. “You look like a teenage boy trying to show off his muscles, but the problem is that you are missing a key element”, replied Mel. She always does that, like why can’t she just give the honest answer without all that dumb sarcasm. It’s funny, I have been married to that woman for 10 years and she still thinks that I like sarcastic answers or something. “Thanks babe” is all I replied. This is a big night for me, in fact one of the biggest I have had in a while. I have not seen Luis in a year. “You need to relax honey” Mel said to me. “I just hope that he doesn’t drive his new BMW over here”. “Why do you care so much? Is that all that matters to you?” asked Mel. She doesn’t get it. Luis was my college best friend. We even had the same majors, but he got the better grades. It didn’t matter how hard I tried, he just beat me every time. He seemed to always find favor. I remember asking myself, “What is he doing right that I am doing wrong?” “No! That is not all that matters to me. I am just nervous. He has not seen the new house yet, and I am still driving that old clunker”, I said to Mel as she put on the fourth layer of makeup. Why does she wear so much stupid makeup? If I got a penny for every piece of makeup that she bought, I would be filthy rich.  Luis always had the nice cars. His dad is a doctor, and his mom is a nurse. So yeah, they had money, and Luis reaped the benefits in college. For most of my college career I did not have a car, so Luis drove me around. “Don’t worry about it Roger. All we are doing is having a game night with some old college friends, and nothing more. Besides, you know that Luis does not think like that. After all, he is a pastor like you are” Mel said to me as she was putting on the dark purple eye shadow. I met Mel my freshman year in college and we fell in love. It was an amazing time of my life, and at the same time, Luis met Beth and they fell in love. We were all great friends, despite the differences that we had. Those were the glory days, when I was a stud and I actually had the ‘element’. I just wished that Mel wasn’t so tall, but she loves me so that’s what matters. Mel was a knock out in college. She was 5-8 and he had the most amazing blonde hair, but that’s the irony of marriage and the phrase ‘oh the glory days’.  “I just hope we win, ha-ha. We used to dominate in spades, so don’t let me down”, I said to Mel with a grin on my face. Luis turned out to be a great pastor. He is now the pastor of a Non-Denominational church in New York City. Can you believe that? A thirty- two year old pastor of a church that has a 5,000 member congregation. What am I? Just a youth pastor of thirteen students at the local church. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but as usual Luis is more successful than I am. “Ding, Dong”. Ugh here is the moment I have been dreading. I opened the door to a man who was tall and thin dressed in a sharp, pined-stripped, black suit and behind him was his brand new silver metallic, fully loaded, BMW. Beth was wearing a black silk dress that flowed flawlessly on her body. They seemed like that have not changed at all since the last time I saw them, heck, even since college. Luis won homecoming king our senior year. He was the popular one. “You look great Roger. It was so nice of you and Mel to invite us over for a game night” said Luis. I began to wonder, why would they get so dressed up to come over and play games? Beth brought her home-made apple pie for the game night. The deal was that they bring something and we will cook something as well. But wow, that apple pie smelled so delicious. I wish that Mel knew how to cook that good. “Thank you Luis! Come on inside” I said. Part of me wished I could just slam the door in his face. I have been avoiding this pride swallowing day since the last time I ran into my former best friend. We sat down at my small dining room table to play spades. I thought to myself, “this is it; I get my chance to finally beat them in something.” Mel just kept messing up though, she kept bidding too high and she made us loose points every round. Luis and Beth had amazing chemistry though as they bid perfect every time. Each round that went by, I felt my level of jealousy and anger rise, like someone turning up the heat on the stove with the boiling pot of water on it. I was about to explode. Years and years of frustration and anger as my best friend just beat me time and time again in the game of life. His house was bigger, his car was nicer, his job was powerful and influential, his wife is beautiful, and he even has children. In every area that I failed, Luis succeeded, and in every area that I succeeded, Luis beat me. He had it all but so did I; I just did not realize that the true blessings in life were right in front of me. Was I blinded by what I could not see or was it just a normal game of spades?