Last night we had lots of turkey and pie. When that was over, we cleared the table and sat down to a friendly family game of Risk. We started with six players and by the time it got down to four players, it was looking like hubby was going to take over the world. He did make a crucial mistake though...He went to the washroom. In the time that he was gone, an alliance was quickly made with the remaining three players and within two turns, hubby was eliminated from the game. As good as we all felt about ourselves taking out the strongest player was nothing compared to how pissed off he was! My husband hates to lose, in fact he has bumped my brother from the number one spot on the Most Competitive People I Know list. He didn't get mad and yell and throw things...That's not his style. He went in to the kitchen and cleaned up silently - which I think is an excellent way to deal with your feelings of failure.

I have noticed this need to be the best in other areas of his life such as tennis, driving and even cooking. Really, it is one of the things that I both love and hate about him. I love it because he puts his all into everything he does. He's always striving to be better and I really admire that about him. I don't like it so much, because there isn't much that I can do better than him. I want to be the best sometimes too ya know. But really, he's very good at a lot of things.

I remember that my Grandma never liked to play the Risk game. It could have been that she didn't like us to play war but I think it was that everyone got mad at each other. Risk is a game of strategy, but it's JUST A GAME! Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Chill out people and be THANKFUL that you are not really in charge of all the army's of the world. I know I am - Thankful that is. Happy Thanksgiving.