Like many others, I struggle daily to understand what is before me. Do I go with piety or chaos? How does one choose?

Just so you know, I am playing Wordle here. We obviously have not met if you thought you were getting something deep and existential from me. “Piety” and “chaos” are my openers as I approach the daily puzzle. Everyone I know has favorite openers. My youngest son, Alex, usually goes with “south.” Jeanne has a penchant for “paste” and “tread.” Although she will wander off from those as the mood hits her.

Jeanne and I compare our solutions every evening, “Wordle Time.” The conversation will start with an inquiry on how many guesses it took to get the answer. We text the screenshots, and then it begins. What follows usually starts with an exasperated question like: “Wait, how did you jump from “chaos” to “floor?” “How did you know to double a vowel that quickly?” Occasionally, I get the feigning annoyance “Of course you had it in two!” remark. This is from a woman who also plays the medical version of Wordle every day and kills it.

I had to trade in my old Samsung Galaxy S9 after over three months into this new competition Jeanne and I have made out of Wordle. The new Galaxy S22 wiped my Wordle stats. I was not thrilled to be starting a new streak after 98 consecutive wins. My current streak since acquiring the new phone is 53 straight wins; 31 of those wins are on the third try.

Jeanne and I have joked about one of our openers hitting. Wouldn’t it be fun to get the answer in one try? I just assumed that if played “piety,” it would be “chaos” and vice versa. And so it was recently. One of my openers hit. Unfortunately, my prediction came true.

Needless to say, several four-letter words came to mind.

Want to play? Wordle Link