Ave.

My grandfather taught me to play chess the year I turned 9 - the first few games he fools mated me over and over again,  until like a lightbulb flipping in my head, I saw what he was doing and did something else.  He won anyways,  but it was still one of the coolest games I remember playing.    It was Christmas, and he was as proud as could be that his weird little grand-daughter had caught on to his game so quickly.     In all the years after, there was only one day that we saw each other and didn't play at least a quick half-assed game.   Of course, I was busy getting married that day, so chess wasn't exactly on my mind.

Before I dropped out of HS, I played on the chess team for a couple of years,  and managed to push my rating up to the 1320's before my mental illness kicked into high gear and did unto my life.

It's been 20 some years since then, and I got a good marriage, a decent med schedule that keeps me sane, and picture of me and Gramp playing chess that my mom brought back for me from his funeral.

Since there is no conveniently local chess group in my area and I want to get back into the game, I figured I would give this online thing a try.   If my mind sharpens up again and I love as much as I remember loving it when I was kid,  then it'll be worthwhile to make the effort to visit the inconvenient not quite local chess club and get back into tournament play.