Last weekend was the annual Bristol Volunteer Fire Department Clam Bake. As my dad and sister are members of the fire department, we go every year to show our support. It’s a big fundraiser for them and a lot of fun for us.

Since the clams weren’t ready when we got there, we started off the afternoon by playing cards, munching on some other food and buying tickets for the first of two 50-50 raffles. For those who don’t know, a 50-50 raffle is a lottery where you buy tickets and the winner receives half the money put into the pot from those ticket sales. The other half goes towards the fire department. Since I was in a good mood and it’s for a good cause, I bought 20 tickets for the first raffle. In the meantime, Jack went to grab beers for him and Amanda and dad grab mom a glass of wine. This would turn into many glasses as the day wore on because when every she was empty, dad showed up with a refill.

Jack and I tried to eat light on the other stuff, as a few nights before at dinner we were both talking shit and ended up deciding to have a clam eating contest. So when those were finally ready, it was on. Unfortunately, we are two very stubborn individuals (a family trait) and by the end of the day we had to call it a draw at 10 and a half dozen clams eaten. For those who don’t want to do the math, that’s 120 clams, all drenched in melted butter. Not only is it absolutely disgusting, but we were both feeling a little ill by the end of the day.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, the winning number was called for the first 50-50 raffle. No one at our table won and I figured I’d sit out on the next one as I never win anything. At the last minute, though, I changed by mind and bought another $10 in tickets. Boy was I glad I did because this time I won, to the tune of $624.

All in all, a pretty awesome day. I may have gone home feeling insanely ill (and was still feeling it the next day) but at least I had a wad of cash to make up for it.