I Won! I Won! I Won!

Ok, so it wasn't the lottery, but I did win at conasta last night. The prize is a whopping $25. I don't win very often, so it was exciting for me.

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had been playing for about 23 years with a group of ladies. Let me tell you about our group. When we started, we were all young women with school age children. Our group lost a few who either got tired of playing, moved or had husbands who didn't want to be saddled with kids on their own one night a month. We invited new people to goin our group. We took this opportunity to catch up on everything going on in our small town world. We played 3 hands, eating between each and afterward. It was always 11 or so before we went home.

But for us who could get out, it was a night of fun, laughter good food and fellowship. When we first started, it was a type of potluck. The hostess furnished the main dish, and we brought everything else from appetizers, veggies, desserts to the paper plates and napkins. The hostess also supplied the prizes. We had a high and second high prize. You can imagine how hard it was to come up with something original all those years.

Then as we got a bit older and a bit smarter, we decided to continue to have the meal, but the hostess furnished everything, once a year, rather than carrying something every time. We felt like a burden had been lifted. It was so much more fun to just show up, have a good time, eat, play, eat, play, eat, (didn't I mention that already), clean up the kitchen and go home. All diets flew out the window once a month. And I might add, we would usually be home by 10.

This went on for several years, and all was well in the conasta world. By now we had grown children and a few of us were grandmothers. We helped each other with wedding showers, decorated for weddings and helped furnish and serve the food for receptions, gave baby showers, and continued to play cards each month.

Then someone mentioned that since we were all getting older, and since a big meal wasn't the smartest thing at night for most of us, maybe we should start having finger foods and dessert. Oh, and probably a salad should be in the mix. That sounded like a good idea. Not as much work for the hostess, and we could graze on this type of stuff and not feel so guilty--right? So this is the course we have taken. It was also about this time that we got smart about the prizes. There would now be one prize--$25 bucks. Cash! No time spent out buying gifts, no time wondering what in the world can I get within the specified price range that would be used and appreciated.(We'd had a sub who bragged one time that she was going to have to have a yard sale to get rid of all the stuff she'd won. Which she no longer had to worry about since she no longer got called to sub. We showed her--hmfp. The very idea. A yard sale to sell all the beautiful, wonderful items we'd spent so much time choosing.)

So that is the avenue we took. Finger foods made and served by the hostess, a $25 prize, and now we all manage to be home by 9. And did I mention that we ate, played, ate, played and ate some more. We also had somehow managed to go from three hands to two. And now we seem to be fortunate to have three tables full. We usually play two and if we have more than eight in attendance, the hostess usually sits out and sometimes others do as well.

We are all getting a bit long in the tooth and where we used to talk about birthing babies and the struggles of young motherhood, now we spend our time talking about our ailments(and we have one gal who has had a tummy tuck recently), and how beautiful our grandbabies are.

We are also forgetful and a little confused. Someone mentioned that if we continue to be so absent-minded, that our daughters will have to come with us just to make sure we get to the right table to play. I'm hoping that the aids will wheel us into the dining room at the home and let us play if our arthritic hands will hold the cards.

Needless to say, our group had come a long way with six of us being charter members(not that we have a charter), but we've hung together through thick and thin. Some of us don't see each other except for that one time a month. We get aggravated at each other some times, but more than anything else, we share a bond. We've all lost parents during this process. A couple of us have lost husbands to divorce, and one to death, fortunately no children or grandchildren. When these times come along, we are there for each other to help any way we can. And we always remember the many times we've been together laughing and having a good time.

Are you fortunate enough to have this type of friends? If you are, share them with me. I'd love to hear about them.