Bee's Nose

My secret hobby, I guess we can call it that, goes back a very long time. I grew up with a Dad who was involved in a service organization that would host Bingo nights at various halls. The sound of the balls rolling around in the blowers' chamber and the flashboards lighting up would send me into an absolute frenzy. My father only fueled this inner passion by dolling out boxes of "Rip-Off's" [the instant "tear open & win" cards...think "pre scratch-off"] to my brother and me. We couldn't rip fast enough! Although these were extras and never meant to be cashed in, Dad would hand us a coin or a dollar here and there to make us feel like we had won; talk about fuel to the fire!

Fast forward to this past August. My sister and I live in the same neighborhood and one day she casually says, "Oh, I've been meaning to tell you they have Bingo at the Hall near my house." Within ten minutes we were getting ready for a night out to the SPJST Lodge 88. While most there had at least 50 years on us, easy, we had one hell of a time! Cheeseburgers for $1.50, Popcorn for $0.75, a pitcher of Shiner Bock for $5.00, and a slice of Granny's homemade lemon pound cake for a quarter. A better time can't be bought, I assure you! And believe me we tried; we bought one, okay, well TWO of EVERYTHING from the cards to the food. We didn't win on our maiden voyage, but we left stuffed sick with Bingo Hall bites and smiles from ear-to-ear. We even called our mother to tell her of our amazing discovery only to find she didn't share our enthusiasm: "Don't make me do that when I get old," was her reply. We have no intention of waiting that long; we made it a weekly ritual.


Every Thursday we meet up for Bingo, being sure to arrive early enough to partake in the Early Bird Special and get a good seat. We watched and took mental notes from all the experienced players there: scented dobbers, multiple playing boards, lucky charm paraphernalia proudly displayed around your cards. We became masters at all the various sorts of Bingo games from Kites and Cover All to B's and O's, which we misheard as Bee's Nose [I still get tickled over the mental image of my sister frantically searching the neighbor's cards trying to figure out how a "Bee's Nose" looks on a Bingo card!].

We like to think we're the next generation of Bingo masters. We even corralled both my parents and our husbands to the SPJST Lodge for Bingo, beer, & burgers; even Mom had to admit a good time was had by all! And, boy does my husband know me well! I woke up to the best gift ever on Christmas morning. We’ve already played several times and I’m currently planning one heck of a Bingo party in the next few months.