A Match

The pressure was on. 

I could feel the intensity in the air. 

Smell it. 

Taste it. 

Pondering my next move, I eyed my opponent. 

Poker face. No clues there. 

Fair enough. 

Cautiously, I overturned a card. And another. 

A match.
 

Gaining momentum, I exposed more pairs until the gleaming 

Silver table housed two final cards lying 

Facedown. 

My pudgy hands triumphantly uncovered the 

Last identical duo. 

Game over.

I was seven. 

I had just beaten my uncle in another round of 

Memory cards.

Memory card game. 

The first puzzle game I remember playing. 

Underneath the cards lay pairs. 

And only pairs. 

It was simple. 

Unveil the pairs to win. 

Connecting the images, 

Picturing their locations,

Yielding the matches was 

Satisfying. 

Rewarding.

Every puzzle, 

Every problem, 

Every hurdle is merely an opportunity to find a solution. 

A logic puzzle. 

A sudoku game. 

A tennis strategy. 

Where there are empty boxes, I will 

Fill them in. 

Where there is no answer key, I will 

Create my own. 

And where there is no pair, my not-so-pudgy hands will 

Overturn the card that reveals one.