If I were to ask you to guess what the Doods and I did last Sunday afternoon and you said drag queen bingo, you’d be right!
The UCLA People Animal Connection holds an annual volunteer appreciation luncheon. With COVID-19 making that impossible this year, they held a virtual volunteer appreciation bingo brunch.
I have to admit when I first scanned the email, I wasn’t too excited. I’m really not much of a bingo fan.
ELBEE Hate so say it but she’s right. Bingo can be sort of a snooze.
Then I reread it and saw that it was going to feature Charlie Hides, drag queen extraordinaire as the caller. Now that was a whole different story.
I logged in on bingo day and there she was in all of her cotton candy hair and fabulous make-up glory. She was pure energy and fun.
As a plus, she’s a dog lover and a true believer in pet therapy. She was 
as delighted with our group as we were with her.
We didn’t just play bingo we did classic 
dances. We laughed at her constant banter as we joined in on head, shoulders, knees and toes, the chicken dance and YMCA. Gus and Stanley were right there dancing along with me.
ELBEE Classic dances?
Out of curiosity, I asked if she’d ever been on 
RuPaul’s Drag Race. I’m a huge fan. Not only was Charlie on the show but she was the oldest contestant ever. We were stunned when she shared that she was over fifty!
ELBEE Her skin was amazing.
As if that wasn’t great enough for the week, the Doods had a major Dodger moment. Fans haven’t been allowed in the stadiums during this season of the pandemic, so cardboard cutouts are taking their place. Cutouts of Gus, Stanley and some of their PAC buddies are now gracing the stands at Dodger Stadium.
As someone who once told Dodger manager Dave Roberts that I was a “granny groupie,” I was thrilled. The baseball season has been shortened but I am grateful for every game I’ve watched, especially the winning ones.
Seeing cardboard Gus and Stanley sitting in the stands is crazy. It’s definitely a far cry from pups in the park when you can bring your real dog to a game. Still, they are there in spirit representing all of us at UCLA Health.
During this challenging year of illness, isolation and discord, we need to celebrate the positive whenever it’s possible. Whether it’s a fabulous drag queen bringing us together in laughter or our favorite baseball team winning the division, those moments are gifts in this most difficult of times.
ELBEE RuPaul and the Dodgers? Someone has very eclectic taste.
