Viva Las Vegas

My parents, my sister, and my aunt just returned from a week in Vegas. By all accounts, they had a good time. My mother flew for the first time in her life and other than a moment of panic when she thought the plane had stopped moving once they reached cruising altitude, she survived the experience untraumatized. They won a little bit at the slots and were duly impressed by the MGM. They got involved in an honest-to-God FBI sting, though only as inadvertent bystanders nice enough to loan a cell phone to someone. (The arresting officer commented “Now you’ve got a great story to tell about your trip to Vegas.” As if Vegas itself isn’t enough of a story!) My parents finally got to see the Grand Canyon, which I imagine must for them have been like the moment when I arrived in Reykjavík; they’ve talked about traveling there for years now.

However, the highlight of the trip seems to have been seeing David Copperfield. My aunt was one of the volunteers chosen from the audience. She was part of a disappearing trick. My aunt is a lot like me in the respect that we both tend to take the view that you only live once and you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the things you did. In other words, my aunt would have belly danced at Marrakesh right along with me. However, my mother reports that she returned to the table all freaked out, swearing “NEVER AGAIN!”. Even after being right in the middle of it, she has no idea where she went or how she got where she ended up. Personally, I think that’s cooooooool.

Finbar and I saw David Copperfield once, about 7 years ago. It was just flat out amazing. Usually, when you see a magician perform, you can guess at the principles at work behind the trick, even when you can’t figure out exactly how it works. That certainly doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the performance, at least not for me. In fact, I admire the dexterity and cleverness necessary. David Copperfield is in a whole different league. It was spooky and strange and inexplicable and I spent most of the evening with great large goosebumps. Several times I turned to Finbar and announced that I officially believed in magic and was pretty certain that David Copperfield was actually a sorcerer. This was B.H.P. (Before Harry Potter), so no quips were made about Hogwarts or possible post-Hogwarts careers for wizards with a flair for the dramatic. Feel free to imagine them now, though, if you like.

All in all, it sounds like the trip was a resounding success. I’m really relieved to hear that because I was worried that my very conservative, Christian parents would be too horrified by the Sodom and Gomorah aspects of Vegas to enjoy themselves. They’ve worked so hard all their lives and had so few vacations of any sort, I’m very glad that this trip went well for them.