The Old Lady in the Shoe

My trip to Vegas was quite possibly the most bizarre trip I have ever taken.

I left on a Saturday.  TEN and I spent that afternoon enjoying lunch outside on the patio of a favorite restaurant.  I had a few cocktails.  I was trying to relax.  For some reason I had a terrible feeling about this trip.  I didn't want to fly. 

T: I have a really bad feeling about this trip.  I don't want to fly.
TEN: You always have a bad feeling about flying.
T: I know.  But THIS time I have a really bad feeling.  I don't want to go.

 (silence)

T: I don't want to leave you and Louis.  I want to just stay here.
TEN: Everything will be fine.  We'll be here when you get back.

And so, I went.  And I arrived safely in Vegas.  No problems getting there.  That's where things started getting.....well.....Vegas, I suppose.

I stayed at the Cosmopolitan.  It was fancy.  Turns out everyone with my group had a suite.  Mine had mirrors and jacuzzi tubs looking out over the strip and a party deck.  It made me immediately kick myself for not bringing my girls with me!

(gotta love blogger.  this is the entrance to the "bathing area")

(the shower section)

(the steps to the jacuzzi.  the blinds that look over the strip)

I woke up in the middle of the night to a loud thumping noise.  I thought that perhaps my room was over the club? 

Turns out there was a rave in town.  Something like 250,000 people were there.  Teens and early twenties people.  Eating ecstasy pills and dancing.  They were staying at Planet Holywood.  Directly across the street from my room.  Lovely :)


The next morning my boss and I met to set up our booth at the conference.  We saw so many people doing the walk of shame.  It was almost funny.  But not really.  Because these were young girls.  Really young.  In really skimpy outfits. Not like "Vegas cute and flirty", more like just plain slutty. 

It made me sad.

But, then...Vegas has always made me a little bit sad.

Then, things really got going :)

* I bought a new bikini to sit by the pool with my boss.  I had to buy an XL.  They don't make bathing suits in Vegas like they do in Smalltown, VA!
* I found myself standing in a very large shoe.
* My boss ended up being really cool.
* I went shopping on the last day of the conference and spent too much.
* I won my shopping spree & then some back at the Black Jack table.  With my boss' help.

All in all a pretty nice work trip/conference!

AND THEN.....


The nightmare began.

* My flight was schedule to take off Wednesday morning. 
* I was to land in Smalltown, VA at 10pm Wednesday night.
* They kept delaying take off by 2 hours at a time.
* We finally flew out at 7pm that night.  On a different plane.
* I landed in Atlanta at 2:30am.
* My flight back to Smalltown, VA wasn't until 8:30am.
* I didn't sleep.  At all. 


The good parts of the trip were that we didn't take off on a plane that had mechanical problems.  I also met some really neat people, and we looked after each other (and each other's things) all the way to Atlanta, and for 5 hours in Atlanta :) 

My flight from Atlanta to Smalltown, VA was on time and uneventful.

I got home at 11am.  I worked from home that day, as I hadn't slept for 21 hours at that point.  I decided to go ahead and stay up through the evening.  Because really, if I had taken a nap I would NEVER have fallen asleep that night.  And we had LOBSTERS to cook, after all.

So in the end I learned a few things:

-  It is better to be stranded than flying in a plane with mechanical problems
-  There are some really good people in the world :)
-  There is no place like home
-  I can function with no sleep for 33 hours

I had a bad feeling about this trip.  I'm just so thankful that the "bad feeling" only turned out to be a delay.  Like one of my flying friends said, "when it's your time, it's your time...there is nothing you can do".  I believe him.  Completely.  I trust in God.  I know he has a plan for me.  But honestly...if I had my druthers, I'd rather spend just a wee bit more time here on Earth.  I'd like to at least see Louis reach his 2nd birthday.  Or, perhaps his 10th :) 

T