When There's a Connection

Photo from Public Domain

Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas. These cities, obscure to some and popular to others, are now forever linked by the violence that has rained down on innocent people.

We grieve for the victims, feel for the survivors and families that are affected. We can hold them in our thoughts and prayers. But nothing –nothing – will ever be “normal” again. Not for them. Not for us.

For me, living in Bakersfield, a four-hour drive from Las Vegas, has meant spur-of-the-moment weekend trips or planned vacations with friends to take in some shows. One year we held our family reunion in Las Vegas. Its ease of getting there by plane from anywhere in the country figured in to the decision.

Living in Bakersfield, the city known as Nashville West, means our neighbors and friends were at last Sunday night’s concert in Las Vegas. We lost several. I, personally, didn’t know any of the folks whose names and photos have appeared in the local paper and on the news.

But, I’m connected through friends and acquaintances and by geography. To the 20-year old woman who loved country music. To the brave gentleman who shielded his wife from the gunfire and lost his life. To the Bakersfield police officer who was wounded. To the woman from Tehachapi who is recovering from surgery after being shot three times. To the several other Kern County residents who were wounded or killed. And to the young Bakersfield woman and her family who’d planned to stay until Monday but, on the spur of the moment, decided to leave Sunday. 

I feel for these folks and their families. I'm angry and saddened they've had to endure this trauma.

I’ve observed that change is most likely to occur when there is a personal connection to an issue, a person, or a problem. The rapid news cycle, television, social media, and travel connect us to events, people, and places and put them with us and within us forever. We are all connected.

The Las Vegas shooter’s amassing of the types and amount of weaponry we’ve seen went far beyond what the Founding Fathers meant when they instituted the 2^nd Amendment.  They could not have envisioned what’s taking place in our country today. I sure didn’t.

If you’ve been wondering what you can do to help stop the carnage, please consider contacting your Congress persons and making your voice heard. If “this is not the right time," I don’t know when the right time will be.

~ xoA ~

L is for Las Vegas

Mid-west bumpkins, moving to California in August of 1973, our route took us right through Las Vegas. It was our first time in this storied place that we’d only seen in the movies. But we knew that from glamour, glitz, and gambling to devastation, danger, and despair, all could be found in Las Vegas.

When we hit downtown and saw that iconic hugeous waving cowboy and all the other lights, we could only cheer and stare. Bumpkins. We were bumpkins. Ignorant of Circus Circus, or any accommodations for children, my husband and I took turns gambling. One played the slot machines while the other stood just inside the casino doorway, entertaining our daughters and soaking up the air conditioning. Six-year-old Amina could read, and when she saw a sign that stated “No Children Past This Point,” she took it to heart and made sure that she and Asila, nearly four, stood well back.

Two years later, when my sister Reenié came to visit me in Bakersfield, the opportunity came, and we threw together a spontaneous trip to Las Vegas.  We shoved some money in our pockets so we didn’t have to carry our purses and lit out for the casinos. Reenié was in her mid-20s but looked a lot younger. The security guard thought so, too, and approached her for her I.D. She couldn’t produce it but told him, “That’s my sister over there. She’ll tell you I’m 25.” He followed her over,  I assured him of her age, and we kept playing the nickel slots.

With easy access to Las Vegas from all over the country, it was a perfect place to hold Judy’s family reunion in 2010. Brother Jim secured lodging for us in a lovely time-share resort just off the Strip. We could all be close to each other, cook together and spend family time, and we could partake of all Las Vegas had to offer. One night, the entire group took in a Cirque de Soleil show. Another evening, those who want to go out on the town did, while the homebodies spent a relaxing evening viewing the lights from our 10^th floor apartment. 

Friends drove down from Coos Bay one year in December, and we made the journey over with them. Seeing three shows in three nights and ambling the length of the Strip several times, we all enjoyed the time in this captivating city. 

Though I am not much of a gambler, I did discover that I liked playing roulette the several times that I played downtown at the California Club. A friend whose husband was considered a “high roller” coached me through my first evening at the wheel. It was exciting, and I was winning. I could see how folks could get caught up and go overboard. But, my inclination was to stop while I was ahead, so I did walk away $100 to the good that first time.

I’ve had some good times in Las Vegas, and an occasional re-visiting provides all the glitz I need.

~ xoA ~