OMG!!

I feel like we’re constantly traveling….maybe, because we are.  July was Hilton Head then a week in Atlanta at a national bridge tournament.  Then, a week at home.  Next stop.  Baltimore to see our kids and grandkids plus play in the annual Hunt Valley regional that we’ve played in fr the past 10 years.

And, now, we’re back in Venice basking in the red tide glow.  Seven tons of dead fish makes for a very unpleasant aroma.  No end in sight.  Even the most popular waterfront restaurants are shut down.

Enough of that.  What a great time we had in Baltimore seeing our old (and I do mean OLD) fellow bridge addicts.  No matter what, bridge addicts will not give up the game.  They come in their walkers, ride in on their scooters.  They pull their oxygen around with them.  Seeing eye dogs lay nearby as assistants read out the bidding cards to the blind players.  Even the Alzheimer’s crowd will fight it to the end before they concede defeat.

One afternoon, I sauntered into the hotel restaurant for lunch, lining up with the hordes at the salad bar.  Quietly, eating my greens, my serenity was interrupted by several people shouting, “Doctor!  Is there a doctor here?  Doctor!!”

One of the more senior players was choking at the salad bar.  No doctor appeared but this huge guy started the Heimlich maneuver….grabbing him around the chest and pulling him upward well over 10 times.  If he has a rib left, I’d be shocked.

Finally, whatever was in his throat dislodged.  And, with that, he vomited all over the salad bar.  I am not kidding.  Of course, there was the collective GASP!  It was quite the sight and I know he was completely humiliated but, bottom line, he was alive!

At this point, the hotel manager appears.

“Is everything okay?” He inquires of one of my compatriots.

“Yeah, he’s dead.”  There are a whole host of smart asses in the bridge world.

“Oh, good,” replies the manager and walks away.

True story.  Every word.  I don’t have a clue what the manager thought he heard, but it was pretty obvious he wasn’t listening!  Just goes to show you, people hear what they want to hear.  I’ve never seen a clearer example of that in my life!

After that incident, the rest of the tournament was pretty tame, although I did catch a pretty strong whiff of weed from the balcony where the younger players were staying.  Ahhh….the good old days!

Now, I’m trying to hang on to every decent brain cell I’ve got left.  God knows, what the future holds.  Ten years from now I could be scooter girl carrying around my oxygen!