This week I am in Las Vegas for a rest from politics. I’m lending moral support to my daughter’s fertility journey. She purposefully spent her twenties and thirties concentrating on her career and building wealth. While she has no regrets and is proud of her many accomplishments, she and her husband only recently decided to have children. But it hasn’t been easy and at her advanced age, insurance won’t cover the cost. We have heartfelt conversations about the roller coaster of hope and disappointments that has been part of her nearly four-year quest to have a baby. I’m happy to be here for her even as the news this week presented yet another delay in her upcoming embryo transfer. I’m counting on the fervent prayers of a loving mother to make a difference.
Perhaps my daughter needed a distraction, but she decided to use my visit to redecorate the main level of her home here in Vegas. Utilizing my interior design certificate and experience, I decorated her first house and later this house 15 years ago. I decorated both her offices in Woodland Hills and New York. With my daughter’s conceptual direction, her substantial budget and her chauffeuring skills, I’ve been busy planning, coordinating, organizing, online and in store shopping, donating items, accepting deliveries, painting walls and spray-painting items, reupholstering, interviewing a new cleaning lady, cleaning, and more shopping. The downstairs is turning out beautifully; however, some furniture and area rugs won’t be delivered until I’m gone.
As a reward for my work, we are doing the full “Vegas foodie” experience, visiting the top viral eateries around the city for our meals. It’s been great fun. So far, my favorite has been Taco El Gordo. I think we’ll have to revisit that place again before I return home.
The crown jewel of the trip is the Bruno Mars concert at Allegiant Stadium last night. Attending one of his concerts has been on my bucket list for a very long time. My daughter and I went to great lengths and expense to secure tickets in the online Ticket Master battle with his many fans and with dynamic pricing. We paid too much for our great seats which included an exclusive lounge area (a pleasant surprise), but it was well worth it. Bruno was delightful and the staging was beautiful. I enjoyed every minute of his performance. My only complaints are that we had to stand up for too long cause folks just had to dance and sway as they sang along. And it was way too loud. Thankfully my daughter secured free ear plugs from an usher who had plenty of them handy. Every few minutes the noise alert on my iPhone watch went off to warn me of the potential damage I was doing to my hearing. In sum, the “Mr. Romantic” concert tour is well worth the price of admission and minor inconveniences.
I’ve allowed myself to be too busy this week to pay attention to the chaos that has enveloped our nation. I’m not quitting the fight, I am taking a mental rest to refresh, recover, and rejuvenate so that I can come back stronger and more determined to do my part to set our nation on a much better path. I’m following the advice of a line in one of my favorite poems by Edgar Albert Guest. It states: “rest if you must, but don’t you quit”.