Beach Blanket Bingo

The last time I played bingo was about five or six years ago when we played biker bingo at our HOG chapter Christmas party and we used M&M’s for markers. Other than that I can’t remember when I played bingo which must have been when my children were younger.

The Evergreen Aids Foundation hosts bingo night on the fourth Thursday of each month as a fundraiser. Each month they have a theme and encourage those who attend to dress up. I thought about wearing my bikini top over my sweater because no one is going to see me in my bikini except Larry. Tonight Michael and Ryan were the MC’s for the event. Ryan was wearing plaid surfer beach shorts and a shirt and Michael had on a Polynesian sarong and a shirt and both had their flip flops on.

They rented a Bounce “Round that normally you would find at carnivals and fairs for children to play in. One of their volunteers named Matt crawled inside the bounce and would toss out beach balls that were numbered to correspond to the bingo numbers. This was a cute twist on a typical game.

Dinner was pizza, hot dogs, soda, beer, Annette Fun-I-Jell-o shots, big Kahuna drinks that consisted of peach vodka, triple sec, and strawberry lemonade. I was driving so I had a diet Pepsi to go with my pizza but I did buy the boys Jell-o shots. And a Beach Boys CD was playing surf music that added to the festive décor and brought back memories of my junior high and high school dances.

There were probably forty to fifty people playing bingo and I didn’t win a single game, but I had a lot of fun. The boys made a great comedy team and kept the crowd entertained.

Cruising for a Cause - Evergreen Aids Foundation

Just sit right back
And you’ll hear a tale
Of a three hour tour
A fearless crew
Plus forty-eight
Set sail on Bellingham Bay
It was a balmy night
With wine and cheese
And veggies for good measure
The laughter could be heard
From stern to bow
And port to starboard
The food was gone
The bottles empty
Time to go back home

Last night Larry and I took a cruise on Bellingham Bay on a about a sixty-three foot sailboat named the Shawmanee. The cruise was a fundraiser for The Evergreen Aids Foundation and my son Michael is the board president this year.

I am not a good swimmer and after several bad experiences on the previous boats, I have always told Larry, if you want a boat, buy one and enjoy it, but it is not my thing. So presented with helping out a charity for a good cause, Larry bought tickets and I figured I could just hang out near the lifejackets for the evening and I would be okay.

We arrived in plenty of time to board, find good seats, start meeting our fellow shipmates, and pour a glass of wine. Slowly we recognized friends among the gathering and caught up on who was doing what. We made new friends and discovered what our fellow travelers did in life and how we all came to be on this cruise.

Lawyers, doctors, educators, artists, newspaper reporters, students, businessmen and women, a community of caring individuals all coming together to help EAF help those living with HIV/AIDS and their families and loved ones. I looked up and was happy to see Melissa who is part of our Harley group. Larry saw Bob, a professor he hired years ago, and Marie who teaches in Fairhaven College and worked with him at WWU. To most of the people on the cruise, I was Michael’s mom and I thought to myself that when the kids were in school I was always someone’s mom and hadn’t been defined that way in a long time out in public.

I was told to bring a sweater and maybe a warmer coat for when it cooled off in the evening. Well it was one of those rare Washington days with the temperature was in the eighties and only once did a slight breeze come up--but not enough to make me run for the coat. I forgot my camera and it would have been a perfect evening to take pictures of the moon coming over the mountains with the sun setting at the same time. But the memories are in my heart and will be treasured.

To find out more about The Evergreen Aids Foundation, go to: http://www.evergreenaids.org