It’s Been an Interesting Couple of Weeks in Vegas…

Ah, Vegas, how you’ve sought to entertain me this past twelve days. Yes, that’s right. It hasn’t even been two weeks yet and I’m on the edge of my seat with anticipation over what you’ll come up with next.

First, it was an unexpected afternoon spent with my son and his fiancé who arrived in Vegas for a conference two days before I did – unbeknownst to me! Yay! That was so cool. We had an incredible lunch at Le Thai, which has to be the best Thai food I’ve had in a long time, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon together, including cruising through the Mob Museum, where this photo was taken. Turns out, it’s the ONLY photo we took of us all afternoon…

Then it was a wonderful day spent with my cousin, her husband, and their two little toddler foster kids. Adorable, they are! They treated me to dinner out at the local free-for-all, uh, I mean, buffet restaurant – good food and way too much of it!

Next it was a fall I took while walking around the campground loop early one morning. Yes indeedy, that fall into the freshly oiled asphalt banged up my left knee when all my weight fell on it, scraped the palms of my hands, and last but certainly not least, badly sprained my right ankle! Whoopee! I’m getting an opportunity to be creative and figure out how to get a glass of water to drink to stay hydrated during these hot mid-90s days! I love being independent! It rocks! Oh yeah – and ice. Getting ice every day for the ice packs I had to put on my ankle and knee. For the first few days, that job went to my neighbor who ran errands in town every day and brought ice back to camp for me; thank goodness for neighbors – he’s also the one who took me to the emergency room at the same hospital I was born in almost 63 years ago! Woo hoo!

But I have to say that the frosting on the proverbial cake was finding out that my credit union debit card had been skimmed, and that someone in Atlanta, Georgia was using my money to buy booze at the liquor store. That’s right. My money! And I’ve never even been to Atlanta! Now get this: since I’ve cancelled the card number, they can’t buy any more alcohol! Oh wait… That means that I, too, have no access to my money! At least until I get a new card which will take 2-3 weeks. Yay.

So. Bring it on, Las Vegas. I can handle it. Whatever it is, whatever the next thing on the agenda, I know I can take care of it. Then again, I’m not sure about that. Because, you see, just a couple of days ago, I realized why people give up, why they don’t want to do life anymore. It’s because one flippin’ thing after another hits ’em between the eyes and they just say “ok, that’s enough. I’m not doing this anymore” and they don’t. And I realized that BEFORE the bank account issue came up. Now I’m just worn out. I’ve lost my positivity somewhere. I’m tired. No, I’m exhausted. Muscles I didn’t even know I had are sore and in knots trying to keep up with the off-balance way of getting around (it’s not really walking; more like shuffle-hobbling).

So for those of you who pray, or send healing energies, or talk to the angels, or hold loving space, or any other form of positive reinforcement, I’m asking for your intervention. I’m asking for your help. I don’t need money; I need something far more precious. I need you – and your mindful meditations, your loving intentions, your energy. Because I’m fresh out of all of it.

Blessings to you who have already donated of yourselves (and I know there are lots of you out there), and blessings to those who may do so now. I love you all.

Note: I wrote this story last Saturday, almost a week ago. My knee and hands are almost healed. My ankle is still very swollen and way painful but I’m now able to drive a short distance and I can walk on it a bit. It still wears me out quickly – an hour’s worth of activity has me lying down, foot elevated and iced, for the rest of the afternoon – but I’m pleased with making progress. This injury is going to take a long time to completely heal, maybe many months, and I’m glad I didn’t give up completely, even though checking out had its attractive points. I’m finally leaving the campground tomorrow and going into Las Vegas to spend a week or so with my cousin – she’s the reason I came to Vegas to begin with! Although I’ve loved my time at Lake Mead with the coyotes, quail, roadrunners, and doves, albeit in pain with an injury that has left me relatively immobile, both walking and driving, I’ll be glad to get on the road again. After all, that’s where I want my adventures to be: in movement.