Last month, I was in bed when Isaac walked through the front door.  It was late and I was tired.  He climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.  He walked in with some hardware.  He placed 7th in Division 2 for state individual.  He was excited.  Then he launched into an explanation of some of his games and the conversation between John and Isaac quickly went over my head. Later on in the month, his chess coach called and asked if I would be a floor monitor for the Chess tournament that the Ferndale Chess club hosts.  Seriously? I barely know how the pieces move.  All I really needed to do was walk around and circle the winner of each match.  It was a whole day thing.  I was with the elementary kids which ended around 2:45.  I then walked over to the high school area only to find Isaac and Ben (his best friend) playing each other.  They go back and forth on who wins.  This friendship started as enemies on the same soccer team.  I remember one time that Isaac became so frustrated with Ben during a soccer practice that he jumped on Ben's back and tried to pummel him. I'm not sure when they started hanging out but it got to the point that Ben just walks right in to the house.  When they lived in our neighborhood, he would spend more time at our house than his house. We've taken him to Canada to go swimming and he tells the border guards that he practically lives with us.  When he's over, they play chess, modern warfare, hearthstone and sometimes minecraft.  After this chess match, Isaac and Ben went over the moves of the game.  They have to write down each move and so they analyzed it to see where Isaac went wrong and how Ben beat him.  I'm glad Isaac no longer feels the urge to try and take Ben down physically but with chess it is still fairly competitive.