road trips…

surrounded by my friends this weekend, i had a roadtrip. shana came down from cali, sarah from upstate, and together with liz, we all crowded into the car and headed for atlantic city. a place i didn’t realize i knew nothing about.

it was a spur of the moment thing. three hours in the car in the early evening hours of sunday and we were headed to bright lights…the east coast’s attempt at vegas.

i’m not much of a gambler. something about putting money into a box and not getting anything out bothers me. i’m cheap i guess. even so i brought a twenty down with me and broke it down for change…planning to play around a little. i was among friends and that was the point. not to mention casinos are a sociological experiment. people, all sorts of people, huddled in a vast smokey windowless room staring at blinking screens and colored cards.

shana and liz jumped right in, trying out the roulette wheel and later black jack and craps. shana was the student – asking questions of the dealer so that she could understand what was happening. that’s how we met reggie, and charles.

once our fun was exhausted there we moved to the club onsite. that’s where we discovered we were on the precipice of oldness. mingled in with people who probably weren’t much older than us but felt so much oder. the music was from the era of my parents, the dance moves had no booty shaking. even so, shana and i danced – all of us laughed at the sequined men onstage and the ridiculousness of us out there dancing.

shortly after a barry manilow cover we went upstairs. sleep evading me and shana, a few hours later she convinced me to go back down to the casino with her. two last bets on the blackjack table. she lost. followed up by my only two bets. a win followed by a loss and my ability to leave with the same ten dollars i came down with.

we followed that up with a drink at the bar with guiermo who told us his life story including the adventures of indira and pepe.

three hours later we were up and headed to baltimore to see our friend michelle and her girlfriend. after a meal we continued on to the american visionary arts museum. inspired and moved, we chatted for a while and then began the drive home. just like that…so muc rolled into one day. and it was beautifl.

May God break my heart so completely
that the whole world falls in. — Mother Teresa

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