Saturday, May 19, 2012 and Friday, May 25, 2012
Sometimes as a journalist, the brief bullet format is your best friend. Especially when you’ve been to two Bingos in the last week and feel behind in blogging and, as I might have mentioned, have two jobs, a teenager and a puppy.
Cue the bullets:
· Still no word from Other Sandy, the MIA volunteer, so last Saturday turned into another fill-in day for me, helping Doreen in her VFW Auxiliary Bingo session. Doreen always gives away better-than-usual prizes, but this time she decided to try cold, hard cash: one buck per Bingo. It was a hit. When Leo Martell won his first dollar, he offered to take me out. “Oh, boy!” I said. “I think I could spend 50 cents pretty nicely.”
· I was kind of disappointed not to see Kevin, the new, young-looking guy—but then he showed up. Turns out he had just been outside at the gazebo, where a group of Harley riders was handing out coveted Harley swag. Kevin had a Nordstrom bag on his lap so full of stuff, I had a hard time lifting it so he could reach his Bingo card.
· After Bingo, I sat with Ray McDade for a while and caught up. First, bless his heart, he asked about my son’s golf game. Ray’s still having some lingering problems with that months-old gigantic blister on his heel—which, naturally, gave him an opening for his favorite recollection of all time: “I will never forget the look on your face when you first saw that blister,” he said. I guess he won’t.
· Friday was a regular afternoon Home Bingo. (While these no longer seem so strange, after 7 p.m. sessions for years, I still have trouble getting there before 2:01.) Matt was calling numbers, Erin from Activities had loaded the prize cart and another volunteer (whose name I really should know by now) was helping out. I love a fully (and extremely competently) staffed Bingo room.
· Friday’s Bingo was packed and unusually chaotic and loud. People were not in their usual spots, and I think I was more thrown than they were. Leo Martell and Charlie were at their regular table but in different seats—but for a good reason. They each were helping an older resident with his Bingo card. (When he left, Leo laughed, “I spent more time looking at his card than I did mine.”) It was extraordinarily sweet.
· David Fox almost always picks prizes from the health-and-beauty section of the cart, and Friday he opted for a full-size deodorant. A couple minutes later, he called me over. “Read this,” he said. I had no idea what I was supposed to see on a deodorant container, so he pointed to a tiny ad-like box on the back: “If your grandfather hadn’t used this,” it read, “you wouldn’t exist.” David looked at me expectantly. I laughed out loud. He did, too. I love that he knew I would laugh with him.
· Before I left Friday, I checked with Erin to make sure Monday’s traditional Memorial Day ceremony starts at the traditional 2 p.m. It does. I will not be a single minute late.
Sometimes as a journalist, the brief bullet format is your best friend. Especially when you’ve been to two Bingos in the last week and feel behind in blogging and, as I might have mentioned, have two jobs, a teenager and a puppy.
Cue the bullets:
· Still no word from Other Sandy, the MIA volunteer, so last Saturday turned into another fill-in day for me, helping Doreen in her VFW Auxiliary Bingo session. Doreen always gives away better-than-usual prizes, but this time she decided to try cold, hard cash: one buck per Bingo. It was a hit. When Leo Martell won his first dollar, he offered to take me out. “Oh, boy!” I said. “I think I could spend 50 cents pretty nicely.”
· I was kind of disappointed not to see Kevin, the new, young-looking guy—but then he showed up. Turns out he had just been outside at the gazebo, where a group of Harley riders was handing out coveted Harley swag. Kevin had a Nordstrom bag on his lap so full of stuff, I had a hard time lifting it so he could reach his Bingo card.
· After Bingo, I sat with Ray McDade for a while and caught up. First, bless his heart, he asked about my son’s golf game. Ray’s still having some lingering problems with that months-old gigantic blister on his heel—which, naturally, gave him an opening for his favorite recollection of all time: “I will never forget the look on your face when you first saw that blister,” he said. I guess he won’t.
· Friday was a regular afternoon Home Bingo. (While these no longer seem so strange, after 7 p.m. sessions for years, I still have trouble getting there before 2:01.) Matt was calling numbers, Erin from Activities had loaded the prize cart and another volunteer (whose name I really should know by now) was helping out. I love a fully (and extremely competently) staffed Bingo room.
· Friday’s Bingo was packed and unusually chaotic and loud. People were not in their usual spots, and I think I was more thrown than they were. Leo Martell and Charlie were at their regular table but in different seats—but for a good reason. They each were helping an older resident with his Bingo card. (When he left, Leo laughed, “I spent more time looking at his card than I did mine.”) It was extraordinarily sweet.
· David Fox almost always picks prizes from the health-and-beauty section of the cart, and Friday he opted for a full-size deodorant. A couple minutes later, he called me over. “Read this,” he said. I had no idea what I was supposed to see on a deodorant container, so he pointed to a tiny ad-like box on the back: “If your grandfather hadn’t used this,” it read, “you wouldn’t exist.” David looked at me expectantly. I laughed out loud. He did, too. I love that he knew I would laugh with him.
· Before I left Friday, I checked with Erin to make sure Monday’s traditional Memorial Day ceremony starts at the traditional 2 p.m. It does. I will not be a single minute late.
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