Friday, November 18, 2011
I was looking forward to Bingo tonight for diversion and perspective and purpose. So when I got there at 6:30, I was surprised, at first, to see two big guys in leather vests carrying snacks into the Bingo room.
I looked at Dorothy, who was standing by the nurses’ station, and shook my head as in, “Oh, don’t even tell me.” But she did. “The Combat Veterans are doing Bingo tonight,” she said. And just like that, I was no longer surprised—because “surprise” implies a tinge of happiness.
I huffed my way to Gary’s room and—surprise!—found diversion and perspective. Gary was just back from the hospital, and Doreen was visiting. She cleared a chair for me, and I made myself right at home, as I tend to do. I hadn’t known Gary was going in for surgery, and he looked remarkably well for just getting home. We looked at the monthly calendar to make sure tonight really was Home Bingo at one point, and I swore up and down that even the weekly calendar I just got in the mail today said so, too. And then we talked until Bingo time, when I figured I’d stop in to say hello to some folks and then head home.
I walked by the Bingo room and noticed Ray McDade wasn’t there yet, so I tried his room. No Ray, but his sweet roommate told me Ray had “put on a suit and gone out to dinner or something.” That was a pleasant image. I left Ray a note on his pillow and headed back to Bingo.
Right inside the door, Cal Bush was picking a lucky card … or two (alert the Bingo police!). I rubbed his shoulder. “How’d it go at the casino?” I asked. “Not so hot,” he said. I assured him his Bingo cards looked lucky, and he seemed to believe me.
I said hi to Leo Martell, Billy, Ken Levick and David Fox and stopped to talk to Ann Lawson. “I just found out this group was coming,” she said. I told her it was nice to see her, anyway, and I’d try again Wednesday—the next promised Home Bingo session.
Dorothy was talking to a couple of the Combat Veterans, who already had given her some loot: an adorable Christmas frog, a handmade tote and a beautiful knitted cap from Nicaragua. She was in good hands with the Combat Veterans, and there was a nice big group of them handling Bingo, so I didn’t feel bad about heading home early.
Well, in one sense, anyway.
I was looking forward to Bingo tonight for diversion and perspective and purpose. So when I got there at 6:30, I was surprised, at first, to see two big guys in leather vests carrying snacks into the Bingo room.
I looked at Dorothy, who was standing by the nurses’ station, and shook my head as in, “Oh, don’t even tell me.” But she did. “The Combat Veterans are doing Bingo tonight,” she said. And just like that, I was no longer surprised—because “surprise” implies a tinge of happiness.
I huffed my way to Gary’s room and—surprise!—found diversion and perspective. Gary was just back from the hospital, and Doreen was visiting. She cleared a chair for me, and I made myself right at home, as I tend to do. I hadn’t known Gary was going in for surgery, and he looked remarkably well for just getting home. We looked at the monthly calendar to make sure tonight really was Home Bingo at one point, and I swore up and down that even the weekly calendar I just got in the mail today said so, too. And then we talked until Bingo time, when I figured I’d stop in to say hello to some folks and then head home.
I walked by the Bingo room and noticed Ray McDade wasn’t there yet, so I tried his room. No Ray, but his sweet roommate told me Ray had “put on a suit and gone out to dinner or something.” That was a pleasant image. I left Ray a note on his pillow and headed back to Bingo.
Right inside the door, Cal Bush was picking a lucky card … or two (alert the Bingo police!). I rubbed his shoulder. “How’d it go at the casino?” I asked. “Not so hot,” he said. I assured him his Bingo cards looked lucky, and he seemed to believe me.
I said hi to Leo Martell, Billy, Ken Levick and David Fox and stopped to talk to Ann Lawson. “I just found out this group was coming,” she said. I told her it was nice to see her, anyway, and I’d try again Wednesday—the next promised Home Bingo session.
Dorothy was talking to a couple of the Combat Veterans, who already had given her some loot: an adorable Christmas frog, a handmade tote and a beautiful knitted cap from Nicaragua. She was in good hands with the Combat Veterans, and there was a nice big group of them handling Bingo, so I didn’t feel bad about heading home early.
Well, in one sense, anyway.