Bunco

Has anyone ever heard of Bunco? You know, the mindless dice game where a dozen ladies get together and roll three dice hoping to get a six (or whatever number we chose for that round) or better, yet, three of a kind (which would be called a "bunco").

It's really just an excuse to get together once a month and chat, but with the added bonus that the person who rolls the best (i.e. has the best luck) gets money. Well, I happen to be part of one of these groups and last week was my turn to host.

Many of the ladies in my group are a little older than myself and have college age children or are starting to be grandparents with grandchildren Sydney's age. In other words, they are so far removed from the toddler years that they have developed an extreme level of indulgence. So, when Sydney wandered by the group in the living room and grabbed a dice, no one was willing to possibly hurt the poor baby's feelings by taking the dice away. Instead, they started rolling two dice and letting her roll the third. I became aware of this as I heard in exaggeratedly patient tones: "roll the dice, baby, okay, now roll the dice, yes that's right, the dice, right there, okay, roll it, yes, roll it, yea, you rolled the dice, okay do it again, that's right, roll the dice, okay honey, the dice in your hand, can you roll it, yea!"

On the one hand, I feel bad that she interrupted the game, but on the other hand, I still have some surrogate mothers from my mom's Bunco group, ladies who probably let me play when I was Sydney's age, and then came to my wedding and still ask my mother how I'm doing. And that's why I play Bunco anyway: to have and keep the kind of friends who will show my daughter loving kindness at whatever age she's at.