Leaving Las Vegas

  I had it all planned. Two fabulous nights in Vegas alone with my husband. Hours of time to fill in airports and on planes. The solitude of my hotel room to type in. I was going to get so much done without my kids, horses, and housework to stop me. And then, just like it always does, life happened. A one hour layover in Houston turned into a five hour layover when our plane had "maintenance issues.""Fantastic," I thought, "Here's my chance to get some things done!" But alas, my brand spanking new laptop decided that it needed to update itself and promptly gave me the finger.
  So we sat, and we sat. Then we ate ice cream and sat some more. We watched people, because airports are always good for that. We watched a lady trip over her own flip flops and bust her arse. Forget fifty shades of grey. Her face turned fifty shades of red as she looked around to see if anyone noticed. Yep, sorry lady. We ALL saw that go down.
  As what should have been a short layover turned into a marathon visit to Houston International, it occurred to me that we could let this ruin what was supposed to be our first night in Vegas. We could get ill and frustrated, and do what several of our fellow passengers had elected to go with, which was gripe at the lady making the announcement over and over again that we would have "information" about our flight in an hour. This happened at least three times, before she finally decided to have some fun with the group and blurted out, "Look, I have absolutely no idea when your flight will be leaving here. None at all." After a sincere round of applause from the assembled passengers, she settled back into typing furiously on her computer. I have to tell you, I don't think she was doing a darn thing other than trying to look busy so the passengers would think she was working on it.
  Don't get me wrong...I definitely want any maintenance issues on any plane I will be boarding to be addressed. I want that sucker in tip top shape. I want everything from the lock on the bathroom door to the GPS to the thingy that keeps birds from crashing into the plane gizmo (if there is such a thing) in prime working order. Therefore, I will be the last one to complain about having to switch aircraft if the need arises. I have to say that I was extremely pleased to finally be headed to Las Vegas, though.
  We made it to the Luxor in time to fall into bed, thoroughly exhausted just from trying to get there. If you haven't been to Vegas, it's a city you should experience once in your life, preferably after you are over 21. Having been there several times myself over the years, I always forget what it's like. Vegas is a place where people will wear anything, regardless of age, size, or any amount of impropriety any time of the day or night, and no one bats an eyelash. Gift shops close for the evening; bars don't. This particular trip, I marveled at the fact that I could buy alcohol at 7 AM, but I couldn't exchange the tee shirt I bought until 10. Priorities, I suppose.
  Vegas is also two time zones away from my house. Our very brief first night of sleep was interrupted by a phone call from my 8 year old who, having no concept of time differences, decided to call mom at 5:30 AM. After a fun day of no set schedule and a mani/pedi (approximately the 3rd one I've taken time to get since my wedding 13 years ago) while Kirk was working, we went to the Criss Angel "Believe" magic show. I've always enjoyed his tv show, so getting to see it live in Vegas was really cool and something I never thought I would get to do. The show was awesome, by the way, and you should definitely go if you have the chance.
  As we were packing up this morning, my husband apologized for the fiftieth time and reminded me that this wasn't how he had scripted our trip. I told him for the hundredth time how much fun I had, and it occurred to me that life really never goes how we have it scripted. I didn't plan on having twins. I didn't plan on leaving my job to stay home with them. I didn't think I would ever want to have a third child. I didn't plan on homeschooling last year. I certainly didn't plan on raising three little girls without my mother's help and advice. Suddenly I realized that some of the most beautiful things in my life have come from times that things didn't go as planned.
  As we boarded the first flight of our trip out, Memphis to Houston, our flight attendant welcomed us aboard "United Airlines flight 1054, service to Honolulu." She paused for a few seconds, then giggled and said, "Oh, wait! We're going to that other "H" city." It was just a joke, but it caused me to consider for just a second what we would have done had we found ourselves on a plane headed to Hawaii instead of Houston. I have to admit, a tiny voice in my head voted to stay right where we were. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.