BINGO!

Friday night marked my official beginning of being a volunteer parent. My volunteer duties for the next eight years will be bingo and other secondary things that may come up.

My daughter will be attending a private school at the end of the month. Her school essentially relies on bingo players and their donations. The monies that are made pay for the school to run, the teachers salaries, equipment, half of their school supplies and half of their tuition.

My Friday was rather busy as I had a lot jam packed into one day. *Note to self, don’t schedule so many things to do in one day* My morning started off at 6AM. I had to be to the East side of Cleveland for an early appointment. I then had a lunch meeting followed by my newest thing to do… BINGO!

I was about 20 minutes late to church for bingo. I walked in and there were a lot of people waiting to get their cards and "instants", much like an instant lottery ticket. I had to fight through some people and wait in line to meet the woman in charge. After a quick introduction she assigned me to my post. I met Bob and Ginny. Bob was going to show me the ropes for bingo. I started asking questions and the immediate assumption was that I knew how to play bingo. Um, WRONG! I know how to play "regular" bingo, but not the pro stuff. I admitted I didn't'’t know how to play and some guy about my age chimed in that it was sacrilegious. Yeah, ok… I do have a life!

Bob told me what to do twice then disappeared. His wife Ginny was there, but she was helping my sister-in-law, so I was pretty much alone. Bingo players are psycho. Do not let anyone else tell you differently. They are part of an underground sub-culture. It is scary. A lot of these people are hardcore. While I had players come up to me and ask me for the winning cards. I just politely nod my head and say good luck and thank you. I then see players that have their own karma. Much like how you have a rabbit’s foot for good luck, these players bring anything just shy of the kitchen sink. These players would bring: framed pictures of their pets, grandchildren, children, stuffed animals, and small figurines. I can say that the players do take playing very seriously as this is the only legalized form of gambling in Ohio. So in a sense, it’s like blowing your dice while in Sin City.

During my evening I noticed how crazy people do act. I was able to sell more bingo cards using some of my sales techniques, which was funny. The players seemed to be putty in my hands. Then I had made a "mistake" unbeknownst to me selling some loose paper and this woman came up to me calling me Miss, Miss, MISS followed by accusatory statements. I quickly remedied the situation, as I didn't want this freak going postal on me. I had many people literally throw bills at me. It was weird to see the level of respect the people had towards volunteers. I had about a half dozen women come in that were grossly obese with oxygen tanks on. As I watched them suck their air from the oxygen tanks searching their purses for more money all of them had several packs of cigarettes in there. That makes no sense to me! Why when you are breathing in the freshest form of air available to us are you smoking? People amaze me and not in the good sense.

My cell phone had been in a no service area all evening as the part of the building I was in was all concrete blocks. I stepped out of my area for a bit and received avoicemail and text message. The text said if you can, come outside. I walked outside and there was my hubby and daughter sitting in the parking lot. She stuck her head out and the first thing I see is her upper lip. It is so fat it is touching her nose. I have no reaction in me other than what the heck happened. It was explained to me thatenm was jumping in the pool backwards and she didn't jump out far enough and she hit her face on the edge of the pool. She was ok, in shock, but ok. I was happy her teeth were still in her mouth. But all I could think on the inside was tomorrow we are taking her to see a client to go horseback riding (future post) and she looks "broken". I said that I would let Em sleep with me during the night and I would be home really soon.

Iwalked into the gymnasium to the psycho bingo players and I said a prayer. I hoped that the rest of the evening would go by quickly so I could get home to my baby girl as she did need her mommy. It sucks being torn between two different places at once, but my place was home. And within an hour I was home with her.

I have decided that I will go to bingo and play one time to get an understanding of what the whole fuss is about with these weirdos! I will be going in a few weeks on a Friday night. The excitement is almost killing me!

I must remember that I am doing this for the little person below!!