BINGO!

My friend's cousin's 7th grade class (you got that?) hosted a BINGO fund raiser, so I was happy to contribute some dolares and play some games. Hey, I'll try anything once.

Ahh, the world of Catholic elementary school BINGO.

I know the small parochial school I went to largely kept afloat by this fund raiser, but it's still so strange to be on this side of things.

I remember getting to lunch and smelling cigarette smoke hanging in the air. The tables and chairs were sprinkled with clear BINGO chips of every color of the rainbow. I'm sure our teachers told us not to, but we'd scavenge high and low, collecting those forgotten BINGO chips as if we were on an Easter Egg hunt. We'd spread them across our lunch tables like jewels, then trade them like Pogs. (The '90s were such a special time.)

Back to last night: Instead of cash prizes, winners got their choice of candy. When I won (and oh yes, I did win once!) I asked if I could have coffee for my prize. The answer was YES! And that choice reminds me that I really have grown up, after all.