Feeling at home with the VFW

Over the weekend I had my first foray into the world of Bingo. Prior to Saturday, I think the last time I played the game was in grade school about four decades ago. Little did I realize how far it’s come. 
When we arrived at the VFW for the early bird game at 5:30 p.m., I immediately latched on to a woman with a red Bingo dauber sitting on the table in front of her.
She definitely looked like she knew what she was doing. It turned out I was right. The woman, Joy Dixon, said she played every chance she got and was more than happy to show my boyfriend and me the ropes.
Little did she realize it would be a full-time job.
We knew nothing. The last time I played, you put down a chip on a number and yelled out Bingo when you had a row. Since that time a whole industry has bloomed, complete with ink daubers in an array of neon colors and other paraphernalia including glue sticks and lucky charms. 
No longer is Bingo confined to simple rows. In its place have emerged Vegas-inspired games like Roving V, Black Out and big and little diamonds — and something called a postage stamp. 
The night did not go smoothly, despite Joy’s faithful and kind oversight. 
To begin, it took me about half the night to figure out that the letter in front of the number actually corresponded to a row on the board. Prior to that I had been nearly breaking my neck to scan every single number on my two game cards. That realization definitely made things easier until everyone around me started winning. 
Sometimes twice. 
I had been hoping for a little beginner’s luck to grace me that night, but it was not happening. And because I’m extremely competitive, the resounding chorus of “Bingos” around me was a bit hard to take, even with Joy’s unerring tendency to look on the bright side. Several times she pointed out how close I had come to winning, and my new friend definitely did her part to keep my spirits up.
Overall, it was the camaraderie of Joy – and all the groups of families and friends around me – that made the night fun despite dropping $50. That and the several glasses of wine that definitely helped keep my mind off of losing.
And best of all, it gave me a few familiar faces to turn to when I returned to the VFW Hall the next evening for the Veterans Dinner, and it really was pretty neat to spend Veterans Day weekend surrounded by the veterans of this community in the building they call their own.