It started innocently quite some years ago. A little pub just outside my neighborhood started advertising trivia nights. It sounded like fun so I called a girlfriend and asked her if she would like to meet me there and give it a try. That girlfriend then called another girlfriend and so it grew until we had a group of six women who would gather weekly to partake in what is known as Trivial Abuse.
Needing a formal name for our team, I suggested we call ourselves the Estrogems. It is the perfect name for a group of very spirited women who together share an amazing amount of wisdom. Okay…sometimes it’s not so amazing, but that doesn’t stop us from attempting to do our best week after week. Rain, snow or sleet, nothing keeps Team Estrogem from fulfilling our weekly ritual and our pursuit of the grand prize of $30.
Over the years, we have had some members leave the group, but the core group remains intact and somewhere along the way we even picked up a man whom we affectionately refer to as our Lone Estrogent. Believe me; he has taken a lot of ribbing over the years for being an Estrogem, but remains secure in his manhood and his ability to be the one we all turn to when we are faced with a sporting question.
We have been playing together for so long that we have come to identify ourselves by our strongest trivia categories. Trasey is the one we turn to for the puzzle type questions, Pat is our resident geography expert, Stacie is the queen of all things movie related and myself…well apparently I excel in cartoons and TV theme songs. We have also been together for so long that we have come to know an entire trivia community. The same teams who gather week after week as well and who desire the same outcome we do. We’ve played the game of playing the game for so long that of course it involves lots of spirited bantering amongst teams, but all in the name of having fun.
As I stared out amongst this group of ‘old timers’ the other night it occurred to me how special a group it is. We have shared birthdays and job promotions, congratulated one another on numerous milestones and even watched with concern and support as our trivia master took on cancer and won. We worry when someone has been noticeably absent and we celebrate when they return.
Some of our friends who don’t participate in our weekly gatherings question how in the world or better yet why in the world we take it so seriously. It’s not about the game itself and it sure has nothing to do with the grand prize which is far from grand. It’s more about the camaraderie and the ability to spend two hours lost in mindless fun. In a world where we often find ourselves overwhelmed and overburdened we can easily miss out on the simpler things in life which bring us the greatest amount of joy. We disconnect when what we need the most is a safe landing place and the ability to laugh amongst others. We may not always know the answers, but it’s not about that. What we do know is every Tuesday at 8 p.m. we will gather and we will be surrounded by dear friends. We will chit chat between rounds, egg on the other teams and congratulate with enthusiasm the night’s big winner. We’ll leave knowing that no matter what the rest of the week holds in store for us; next Tuesday night we will once again be greeted by familiar, friendly faces and a question or two that will completely stump us, but we will be guaranteed laughter. There is nothing trivial about that.
Gina McNew, www.ItsHipToBeHot.com
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