a roll of the dice

Tonight I steal Suzanne's blog inspiration.....because it's Bunco night. 

A few years ago (4? 5?), Suzanne asked me to be a sub for Bunco in her 'hood. My response was, "Bunco?"  To be fair, I had heard of it before - a girl I worked with in Memphis played Bunco.  But I had never heard of it outside the South.  Turns out some of the women in her neighborhood got together once a month to play. I figured, "Why not?"  A night out with Suzanne, new friends, good food, fun, and money - sure thing!  I subbed a few times and got to know some of the women in the 'hood, and it was a great time.  Then there was an opening in the group (it's limited to 12), and I was asked to become a regular.  I accepted.....and the rest is history.

We switch between houses - we rotate hosting  (I host at Suzanne's, as I am one of the few who lives out of the 'hood), everyone brings a snack to share, and we play for cold, hard cash.  Competition is spirited, and often loud (I'm looking at you, Lisa!), and we laugh all night.  Even this night, our first since Suzanne's devestating news, we laughed all night.  Vicki P. brought Suzanne a bag of new socks - so funny and sweet. 

Suzanne wasn't kidding about what a great group this is....it blows me away. Some people have joined and left, we lost one to cancer, another lost her husband to cancer, a former member is now in her second battle with cancer, another member is a cancer survivor (along with me), and tonight we heard a former member wants to come back.  This group is solid - we take care of each other, we care about each other, we have fun together.   When Cora died, this group rallied immediately.....they stayed back at Suzanne and Kelly's during the services to get the food ready and set out, they stored it in their refrigerators, they reheated it in their ovens, they cleaned it all up when it was over.  The Bunco bunch takes care of their own...I guess that's why I feel so at home with them.  Another gift Suzanne has given me - the enduring bond of friendship with not just herself, but these awesome ladies.  I am so happy to be one of them.