Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Pennies, catheters, giggles galore

Well, tonight looked a little different than the average. I've been intending to try such an 'experiment' for awhile, and tonight finally turned into the right night to give it a go. Actually I've been wanting to hang out more regularly with the more ripe side of society for years now. Anyway, tonight my friend and I drove to a random senior's home and peeked in the window. We saw a table of old ladies sitting at a table, but we weren't sure if we could just walk in or what, so we prayed for a minute...checking in to see if this was somewhere we could be most useful in on this particular night. We died laughing as the minute we opened our eyes, the blinds appeared to be shut! As we laughed our way past the window, we realized the blinds were not in fact shut but there were five women waving at us and laughing at us in a mirror like way. So went for it and buzzed them, and asked if we could "chill" with the for awhile. In we went, and oh the giggles that followed.
We sat with them at "their" table for 2 hours, playing their gambling game of pennies- the one they've been playing every night at 6:45pm for the last nine years. There was Mary, who has had polio and now has Parkinson's, but had an unassuming but deadly and very likeable wit about her. There was Helen number one, who worked for 20 years in the laundry room at the hospital. There was Cecile, a French lady from Gravelbourg who brought home the big penny haul over the evening. And there was Helen number two, and then Rose, bless her heart- a real crackerjack if there ever was one. I felt like I was in a movie or something, with these five very sharp and experienced women, the conversation going from catheters and hot old men to the good ol' days, where they earned eight dollars a month to make ends meet. By the time our round of penny gambling was up, there were hugs around the table and welcomes for a return visit. It was a nice change up in my regular dosage of nightly planning and coaching.
Older folk have a lot of life to give. Point proven.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

World Venture Summit- The Second Day
Filed in archive Venture Capital The next day offers a panel discussion on how to bridge the gap between the US and international venture capital.
Good post. I really enjoy your blog and will be bookmarking it, that's for sure. I have a dish network satellite site that focused on dish network satellite related topics. Come by some time to check it out.

Anonymous said...

Nice job with your blog, It's coming along good! Keep up the good work. Hey, are you interested in, EurobetPoker.com - Play on the World's Largest Poker Site! bookiebusters

Jerry Bowley said...

I haven't been a part of, or heard of, an adventure like that in a very long time... Thanks for reminding me how fun things used to be and how fun they still can be.

Anonymous said...

Yep, leave it to a Gravelbourg woman to win all of the $$..... I know what it is like..... they are shifty characters. Take Amy for example.....