Bunco Bliss

What makes bunco something I've looked forward to every month for at least the last eight years? Could it be the food? Oh, yes. How about a night with no baths to give or kitchen to clean? Definitely. Maybe it's the fact that you could win an adorably cute scarf or necklace that you'd never buy yourself? Absolutely.

But, really, I think it's just getting to be with other women and do something that requires no real effort. Well, except for the hostess, who has to do TONS of work to prepare...planning, cooking, cleaning, shopping. I really dislike the one month out of the year that I'm the hostess, but I figure the payoff of eleven delicious dinners and nights of fun is worth it.

It's funny that women would choose, on their one night out, to play a game with no skill required, eat enough food to make themselves sick, and just hang around talking about the silliest of topics until they're overcome with sleepiness. But I guess it's because so many women spend so much of their time doing and giving to others. (Not me, of course, but I know some of the others do.) It's such a relief to spend a few hours totally devoted to mindless fun with no one asking anything of you.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad I have three little people and one big person asking things of me and requiring a lot of work on my part. But it really makes me appreciate the fourth Thursday of every month and the fact that I have a great family to come home to when I'm stuffed to my eyeballs with food and my eyes are heavy with sleep.

So, thank you brilliant woman (it was obviously a woman) who came up with this lovely concept of bunco. Women all over the world are indebted to you for the beautiful thing you've given us. (Our husbands, however, might have another take on this whole idea entirely.)