| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heaven or Las Vegas (part two) ... After the buffet lunch (where I filled up on salad, steamed vegetables a multi-grain roll and just a smidgen of dessert � bread pudding, fruit and some rum-soaked sponge cake type of thing) GB & I split up from the rest of the group and decided to go try our hand at the slot machines. Now neither of us are really gamblers. Me even less so than him. I mean I�m more of a gambler in my real everyday life then when it comes to handing away my money for free. Still, I�d brought along a little extra cash and thought, OK, what the hell �. So first GB put in $2 in a quarter machine and immediately won $25. Cool. Then I put in $5 and won $100. Very cool. I�ve never won anything playing slots. I mean, nothing beyond a few bucks that I quickly gambled away. I cashed out and then proceeded to just play a few more dollars over and over and over until we got our free drinks. Fueled by a combination of winning cash and drinking my watered-down rum & diet I was quite giddy and GB I were laughing as we made our way back over to the Treasure Island casino for the wedding. I spotted a couple in the lobby wearing matching Old Navy flag shirts. Then I found an entire family on the tram wearing them. GB spotted a few of his own as well�score, 12-9 in my favor. Once back at the Treasure Island, we still had some time before the ceremony so we hit up the nickel machines. Or actually I did. GB went back to the quarter machine. And won nearly $100. By the end of our time there I�d pocketed another $15. Like I said, I�m not much of a money gambler so I was very happy to walk away $115 richer than when I�d arrived�it probably sounds so wimpy to most people, but I was in heaven� So on to the wedding. The ceremony was held in a chapel on the second floor. We arrived there at 4, the wedding was scheduled for 4:30. GB�s mom was running around in a crazy state of confusion. The bride and groom were nowhere around and GB�s step dad was wandering around in a tuxedo jacket and shorts. Yes, shorts. Denim shorts. Seems as if he left his tuxedo pants at home. Oops. The minister was rushing around looking worried, I guess the groom should have been there 15 minutes ago. Finally he showed up with his Sierra Nevada beer in one hand and the bride�s ring in the other hand. At least he had his pants on. Because it was Vegas and because this is big business the wedding somehow started at exactly at 4:30 (some overwhelming centrifugal force must have sucked everyone into the right spot at the exact moment stipulated �.) and the wedding went off without a hitch. No one stumbled or tripped or mumbled or cried too much. If it wasn�t for GB�s step dad videotaping the whole thing while wearing a tuxedo jacket and denim shorts and if it wasn�t for the minister rambling on and on with this rather dreamy, Elmer Fudd look on his cartoonish face and if it wasn�t for GB�s mom snapping picture after picture with her very loud camera and then rewinding the film very noisily right at the �I Do� part, well then poor GB & I would have had nothing to laugh hysterically about. Or to at least try and stop ourselves from laughing hysterically about. We were both giggling so hard in that silent, gulping sort of way � I guess those drinks weren�t as watered-down as I thought. From there we had to rush down to a restaurant on the first floor, gulp down some champagne and cake and then rush off to the airport for our 7pm flight home. On the way we stopped at Starbucks and I saw a man wearing an Old Navy flag shirt. �Got one� I said smugly. GB looked over and said �Oh, I get his wife � and his two kids�� Damn. Then at the airport he got a family of four �except the grandmother whom I claimed. Current score 21-19 in GB�s favor. We were on the same flight back as GB�s grandmother, mom & stepdad, dad and stepmom (luckily everyone is civil). GB and I each got a few more Old Navy flag shirts on the plane. His collective set of parents were laughing at us and our silly little game. But laughing in a good way. Our flight was delayed by an hour because of this terrific lightening and thunderstorm in the mountains. As we waited on the runway the plane rocked from side-to-side beneath the weight of the wind. When we finally lifted into the air you could still see the lightening as it crackled through the air. The sun was setting into the cloud-drenched mountains and it looked as if we were flying into a volcano of red fire and hazy ashes�absolutely stunningly beautiful in that terrifyingly scary way. When we finally flew into our city we could see fireworks down below. Some were just literal sparks popping, but in other areas you could see the big whoop-de-doo kind with brilliant colors and formations. It was pretty amazing to fly over our town and say �oh, there�s the fireworks display down at the river �and there�s the one down at the amphitheater� Quite a show. On the shuttle from the airport to our car I spotted one last person in an Old Navy flag shirt. Final score, 25-22 in GB�s favor. Think about it, that�s 47 people wearing a variation on the exact same shirt. That doesn�t include the 30 or so people we saw before we even started counting � that doesn�t include the thousands of people that we missed�. In any case, we were both so happy to finally be still and in our own place even though it�d been only 14 hours since we�d left. So happy to see the cats. So happy to eat a big bowl of cereal (me) or veggie corn dog (GB). So happy to get into bed and close our eyes and sleep. So happy to be home. 5:10 p.m. - 2001-07-05
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