Vacation, Family and lessons.

Hey Folks.

It’s been awhile, I guess I just needed to recharge my batteries. I took my family to Las Vegas for vacation a couple of months ago. We had a great time. That’s what I expected. What I did not expect was to learn a lesson from my daughter. We stayed at Mandalay Bay. While checking in I asked for a room upgrade. We were given a suite for a small fee. We would have never gotten this if the economy was better. Great room with a full view of the strip. But what I did not know was that all the suites were on levels 60 - 62. There are only 62 floors. And you have special elevators that go strait to 60 and up. Well I’m more than a little claustrophobic. And these elevators don't have lights to tell you what floor you are going by, because first stop is 60. To most people that may be a great thing. But to me I need that little light. It says to me "Vinnie just passed 10 don't panic you can get out on 11 if needed." Well it did not seem too bad till the next morning when my daughter and I went down to get coffee and bagels. Got on the elevator push lobby. We were there in a second. We got our food and we got back on push 60, doors close the elevator goes right to 60 stops. Doors do not open. Now I start to go into full panic mode. I'm pushing buttons, and clawing at the doors and I'm not kidding. I was so panicked that I pushed the panic button. The real one on the panel. What happened, I heard a phone ring. No one picked up. Now I feel like this has been going on for hours. More like 30 seconds. I was just about to have kittens or pee on the floor when I hear. "Dad, calm down. We are Ok and we will be ok." I look at her and I just happen to hit the lobby button. The elevator goes to the lobby and the doors open up and I jump out. My head is spinning. Just then another person waiting for the elevator looks at me and knows something is not right. I said you might want to take another one this one would not open when we got to our floor. He says, “did you use your room card?” “All the suite floors need a room card.” Now feeling very stupid and embarrassed. We take the next elevator use the card and the doors open up on 60. As we get off and we are walking to our room I am over come by the feeling that my wife and I have done something right with this kid. She sees her father in full blown freak out mode and not only is she able not to be there right with me, but she talks me down from the ledge. I said Erica, “how come you were not worried." She said, “I was." "But I knew it would have gotten bad fast if we both panicked." Wow, at that minute I felt proud and very small.

Now we had a great time, but our hotel was at the end of the strip so we did lots of walking. Next time we will stay right in the middle less walking. And since we were with the kids we did little gambling and drinking and more sites seeing and shopping. Theses were just to kill time till later when we went to the shows and going out to eat. We had 2 shows planned. Penn & Teller and Carrot top. Penn & Teller the begging of the week and Carrot Top on the last night there. The week was fun but not a lot of rest which is what I look for in a vacation. We were go go go. Fast forward to the last night, we go to pick up our Carrot Top tickets early. The sales lady says to me, you know this is an over 18 show. So right away I knew I had 2 choices, go and get turned away or pick another show fast. We chose to go to something the kids would get into. We rush down the strip to a kiosk that sells tickets. The only thing we could get that we kind of wanted to go to was Danny Gans. We rush back to the room and change. Now its 6 and show starts at 7. We were all very tired from rushing around all week. I have a sinus infection; my wife has a bad cold. So to say that we were not happy to be running off to see Danny Gans is and understatement. We get a cab to the Encore Hotel. All the hotels in Vegas are very nice, but the Encore was very elegant. Right away I new we were out of place. We were all in jeans and tee shirts and everyone else was dressed to the nines. I felt under dressed for the men’s room. If you saw the men’s room you would agree. So we go in get seated. Not great seats. So you can imagine how 2 kids who wanted to see Carrot Top feel. We were all snapping at each other. No good karma going on. Then Danny Gans came on. WOW. Right away I felt all these bad feelings melt away. He was Amazing. He did impressions like no one I ever saw. Not just cheesy ones. Good ones. He had changed our mood from miserable to joy. He was funny and his stuff crossed all generations. And at one point he stops the show to thank us for coming. It was not a "hey thanks for coming." It was a heart felt thank you. Telling about before he came to Vegas and getting this great theater he was on the road for 42 weeks a year. And when his daughter drew a picture of the family he was not in it. But then she pointed to him in a plane in the picture. So he was really blessed to have this gig and to be home with his family. And even though this was a great show and lots of fun. I learned another lesson. It does not matter where you are as long as you have your family with you. The next day Danny Gans died in his sleep. We had seen his last show. Life is very strange. So to end my ramble. God bless you Danny. You will never know how the man upstairs speaks to you. Sometimes it’s your daughter or a Vegas entertainer.

See ya

Vinny