I Was The Dumbest Guy In The Room For A Week

If there was any remaining confidence in my ability to answer Jeopardy questions in a timely manner, it was lost that night.

I’m lucky enough to have a getaway cottage in the north woods of Vermont that my grandfather built in 1935. It’s been in the family since and is always a place for regeneration for anyone in the family experiencing hard times on any level of life.

The cabin was devoid of heat, WiFi, phone service (not even cell), any type of kitchen appliances other than the basic stove and refrigerator and the best thing I could say for the bathroom is that it had a flush toilet that was fancy enough to work every other flush in primitive ,unintentional, water saver fashion.

Life was sure uncomplicated in the Vermont cottage; one radio station (NPR) and no television. The simple life in the cabin was precisely the reason it was so helpful in regeneration for all of us in the family.

For me, being in the country was usually a welcome respite from business. While I was recharging, my clients were temerarily in the competent hands of my partner, Brooks.

My problem at the time was domestic. For reasons I didn’t know and never did find out, my wife refused to accompany me on our Vermont vacation that year. Reluctantly — I was on my own and feeling somewhat sorry for myself.

My disposition improved after only a few days of rural living on my own. To add to my boost in temperament, I happened on an old friend in the local general store. He and his wife were permanent residents, had lived in Vermont their entire lives. My friend mentioned his grandchildren were visiting he and his wife for the summer.

After some catching up, he soon realized that I was alone in my cabin for the week and invited me over to his family’s place for dinner the next night. He was sure his wife wouldn’t mind.

Dinner was wonderful the next evening. The grandchildren were fed early and the three of us had good conversation. We had a lot to rediscover about each other.

Because my friends were native Vermonters their house had most the essentials that my cabin didn’t. They even had a primitive cable television that brought them NBC, ABC, CBS,PBS and one local channel from Burlington, Vermont.

Each of us unwilling to let the thoroughly delightful evening end, agreed to watch Jeopardy together on ABC at 7:00. Grandkids out somewhere, the three of us tested our wits against each other.

I’m no Phi Beta Kappa but I had enough on the intellectual ball to have graduated from elementary school, high school and college in almost the required time. I must say, both my friends made me feel quite inadequate that evening. Either that night’s Jeopardy questions were unusually challenging or my old friends were on a far higher intellectual level that I ever hoped to be.

But we all enjoyed ourselves so much we made arrangements for a reprise the following night.

After another delightful dinner, we turned on Jeopardy to give me a chance to redeem myself. If there was any remaining confidence in my ability to answer Jeopardy questions in a timely manner, it was lost that night. I think I answered one or two of them before my old friends did.

Possibly feeling sorry for me in my rustic cabin all alone, I was invited over for a couple of additional nights during my stay in rural Vermont. Always a wonderful dinner with “farm to table” edibles. And, of course, a post dessert healthy portion of Jeopardy. I continued to struggle with the answers.

Am I losing my edge as I grow older?

The last night before I returned to my chaotic life in Philly, I was sitting on the big couch with my friends watching Jeopardy. I was facing a fifth straight night of futility when one of the grandchildren came bursting in the library, where the television was. After glancing at the screen:

Hey! Mom-Mom, Poppy; you just saw this in the afternoon. How come you’re watching it again?

Silence.

I’ve always wondered whether my old friends would have told me that we were watching a program that they’d already seen in the afternoon if their grandkid had not innocently blurted out his question.

I decided it was a good time to hit the bathroom and pretend I didn’t hear him.