My mom played BINGO!

One of the most amusing memories that I have of Groton centers around the fact that my mom played bingo. A lot.

The base had a bingo night and that was probably one of my mom's only 'non-family' things to do. Her escape from dad and us kids. The base couldn't give cash prizes to the winners but they always gave good prizes. All of our Corning Ware was the result of bingo winnings. We had sets of towels (like we needed more!) and other household goods that were bingo winnings.

She continued playing bingo whenever she could so it was not surprising that she went to a game shortly before we moved to Key West. When I say shortly before I mean she went to play AFTER the movers had come and picked up our main shipment of household goods that were heading to Key West before us. We were to leave in a few days so really, we didn't need anything. Dad sold the boat and we had to give our dog away...for some reason that was beyond me. Dad said it was because of quarantine rules moving to Florida... I suspect it was that he didn't want to road trip with a dog in the car.

Mom got home from bingo that night and had an odd look about her. We knew something was up but we didn't know what. When asked if she won anything she replied with a slow 'Ye-e-e-es'. So we asked her what she won. The reply? "A sailboat"  O.O

Mom had won one of those personal sized sailboats that were made out of extra strong lightweight stuff...
A boat. Yeah. We *just* sold one of those....

It was just like this.. only blue and white and without a trailer.

 So... We advertised that to be sold as well... What were we supposed to do? Our stuff was already on the way to Florida. We kept it in the house leaning up against the stairwell wall, until someone bought the thing. Looking back I wish we had just brought it with  us. Key West would have been the best place EVER for a kid to have one of those.

When I got older, mom would occasionally take me to bingo with her. Especially in Washington. I never won anything... I take it back. I won a $25 prize once but I had to split it 6 ways with the other people who also won. Mom? She never walked out without winning at least enough to cover the cost of her bingo cards and usually walked out with more. After she passed we discovered her secret. She had a little toiletries box (the kind that an airline would give you if you got stuck overnight somewhere unexpectedly) that was stuffed to overflowing with good luck charms, Japanese, Indian and American versions, that she kept in the bottom of her purse. Snake skins, four leaf clovers, little elephant figurines, horse shoes... you name the good luck charm and odds are they were represented in that little box. Sneaky lady....