I Get By With a Little Words With My Friends. #WalkMyWorld #AdmittingAFlaw #Truth

As a high school student, there was an occasional game of Scrabble with my parents (in which Butch would get mad at Sue and one of them would curse out the other and we never finished a game). In college, I used to play scrabble on dates, judging intellect of the women I met (and resulting in my high school students thinking that playing "Scrabble" was a code word for something else - true story).

In adulthood, I bought a fancy board and loved to pull it out with smart company and an evening of word-competition. Alice, at the time, was a fierce competitor and while playing she also made "Eureka" claims about history, globalization, and the giant puzzle that is life.

In Amagansett, I began playing my Aunt Sue in a ritual during summers: wine, catching up, family, and talk.

Then Words With Friends happened. Once upon a time, the word jousting was a once-a-year excursion that tickled my brain and made me love the luck and strategy that comes with the game. Now, I admit it, I play everyday. I wake up and play. Before I go to bed I play. I play people in Kentucky, New York, Connecticut, and Japan (although my Japanese friends aren't very good with their English words). I have competitors who are evenly matched, those who keep up with me, and one who cleans my socks during every game because I always, ALWAYS, get the crappy letters when I play her. It is infuriating.

Words With Friends is my mental down time...the sipping coffee/sipping wine part of my day where I lose focus on a daily agenda, and simply veg with strategy and a passion for letters and vocabulary.

And I wonder if this is a good thing. I don't want to add up the time I spend playing, because I'm not sure it's the most budgeted way to spend a day, but I have to admit - the game keeps me sane in the hustle and bustle that is life.

But I must admit...I hate when I get i, i, i, i, c, v, i. What are you supposed to do with those?