It was a bright beautiful summer day in 2014. The heat of summer was beginning to roll in, but the best of the spring flowers were still radiant in their floral charm.

Nervously, I fiddled with the plastic wrap covering the obligatory brownies I had baked as my "Shareable Sweet". Today was the day that I would make all of my middle school dreams come true. Today was the day I would win the annual Monopoly Tournament at the Mint Hill Public Library.

As I walked through the large double doors, Jessica poked me and said "If you want to win this, then you're going to have to beat him." She pointed at Alex.

Ten years later we are still fighting over the better Monopoly player, still eating box brownies, and still so thankful for the game that introduced us.