Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Reflections from Vegas

It is fun to step out of your reality for a few days and catch a few rays of sunshine. And that is just what my sister and I did this past weekend.

It amazes me that a three hour flight transported us to not only a different time zone, but a completely different season. We went from -20 to +20 in three hours flat. Amazing!!

We took in the sights, sounds and over-the-top extravagance that is called 'Las Vegas'. It is a surreal world.

We walked and we gazed at the wonders around us. As two separate beings, we saw two completely different points of view. We would stop and chat about the day as we lived it and if I didn't know I was walking side-by-side with my sister, at the same time, at the same place, I would swear that we were on two completely different vacations.

Such is life.

Each and every one of us sees, feels, understands and translates things in our own unique way. A movie, a song or any piece of 'art' which we come upon as we live our life.

Different things grab our attention and we guess, assume and interpret what we just saw.

It amused and entertained me as I spent the weekend with my sister. We see the world in very different ways. We unconsciously 'taught' each other a little bit along our adventure as I listened to her interpretation of the 'art' and I spoke of mine.

Her version of 'people watching' is my version of 'people feeling'. I didn't realize how much I played her people watching game until I naturally put my own spin on the same thing. Playing little guessing games about the lives of the people who crossed our path.

The only time we were both forced to look at the exact same tunnel of vision was when we got locked in a staircase (point of interest: those "EMERGENCY" stair exits in a Vegas hotel are exactly that - do NOT use them unless it is an actual emergency). And even at that, we noticed different things.

She noticed how dirty it was. I happened to notice the locks on the doors at each level a few flights before I mentioned them to my sister. I said, "I have a feeling our only exit is at the bottom..." Sure enough. She checked the door and it was locked. We were locked in the staircase.

We were assaulted by signage at the bottom of the flight of stairs. "EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY" the signs shouted to us. We knew we had no other way out because of those locked doors that prevented us from entering any other floor.

We smiled and waved to the security camera at our only exit to freedom. We hoped we would not trigger an alarm and were pleasantly surprised to find we didn't.

Except we didn't realize we had exited into an alley which was enclosed by a cement wall, with no exit either. This time neither one of us found "EMERGENCY EXIT" signage. We ended up stumbling across an unlocked door which put us smack dab in the middle of a strictly enforced STAFF ONLY zone.

Thankfully it was very early in the day (Vegas turns into a completely different world some time in and around 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.) and we ran across a staff member who warily escorted us through a land the public is not allowed to enter and quickly sent us on our way (I assume, before he was caught aiding and abetting our trespassing).

We laughed about the-only-time-we-were-forced-to-see-exactly-the-same-thing and even at that, what each of us noticed was different.

My senses felt assaulted as we walked the Las Vegas Boulevard. Noise, music, people, signage, lights, those peddling-their-wares (and that which they 'peddle' after 5:00 makes me want to run for cover) and a generous sampling of the whole-wide-world is what you can find in Las Vegas. It is the kind of world I prefer to watch via my television screen in the safety of my own home.

It was only in the last hours of our trip in this land so foreign and far away from home, that we found everything we were looking for was within a one block radius of our hotel.

In looking for 'everything', we found 'nothing'.

In the quiet of my home, the day after we returned I found the quiet oasis of a poolside cafe on a map of our hotel. Just the place we were looking for after a long day of taking in the sights.

It is all just a bit of a blur, as I sit still and reflect on our weekend. A good blur. A happy blur. Good feelings, good memories, good company.


It was like a Mirage in the middle of the desert...

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