A Spectacular Spectacle
What.
A.
TIME!
I couldn't have planned
to have so much fun on a trip.
I am CAPTIVATED by my brother,
he is
absolutely
amazing.
Having half-siblings,
but feeling like an only child growing up
it has been an education
to connect with my older brother.
There are the little things like
we're both whooping at a concert,
and I ask,
"Hey, can you whistle?"
and he shakes his head regretfully
"Nope, never could."
"Damn! Me neither."
And we go back to hollering,
because that's what we CAN do.
How he checks the clock,
"It's been awhile since we ate,
I'm not hungry yet, but are you?
We can find a place to eat if you want."
And I shake my head,
"Nope. I don't eat very often.
1 or 2x a day is usually plenty for me."
"Huh," he nods
"I'm about the same."
We're very similar somehow
despite only seeing each other in person
for a couple days every 5 years or so.
Lots of little things,
little ways
we mirror each other naturally
despite our legitimate ignorance of each other.
"I realize,"
he says, with an upturned lilt to his voice
"you probably've never seen me in my uniform."
"I've seen pictures," I say,
"but this is the first time I've seen it in person.
Looking good, Brother!"
He's been in the military for over 30 years.
He has stripes
and patches
and badges all over
his day wear fatigues.
Everyone calls his "Sir"
and most of them are a little nervous when they address him.
He said he really loves hanging out
when he can just be another person
among all the other people
rather than the One Person
everyone is watching for signals from.
All week we were free and easy with each other,
and in the meantime
we had a hell of a time
where HE was the natural leader
and I just got to enjoy the ride.
We 4x4'd in the mountains,
and went to a major league soccer match,
and drank beer and ate dolewhips,
and watched fireworks
and stayed up talking
and drove through the desert
and played craps
and drank at least 1 water
for every two free cocktails
and visited my PBS nerds
at PBS Utah and Vegas PBS
and tipped street dancers
and saw huge shows
and stayed up talking more
and went to art installations
and ate plates of brisket
while drinking and playing video poker
and stumbled back to our suite at sunrise
which is the only time of day
the Las Vegas strip is actually quiet.
We played more craps
and saw more shows
and he kept reminding me to keep a $1 chip
from every casino
and I kept forgetting
not to cash them in.
MGM
The Horseshoe
The Mirage
New York New York
Ellis Island
Golden Gate
Binions
Golden Nugget
Back to MGM.
Part The Strip
Part Downtown
Wholly hot
hitting
109F
then 112F
We ate perfect crab cakes
with a $100 bottle of wine
and laugh as people so easily assume
that if a male and female
are hanging out as a pair,
we must be flirting/dating/married
and we kept having to correct people,
"No! He's my BROTHER!!"
and
"She's my SISTER!
We're just on the town!"
We drove back to Salt Lake City
through Zion and talked the whole way
and when we crashed back to earth
it was like we'd been in orbit
instead of Vegas.
I'm overwhelmed and grateful
with this new dimension between us
because we are distant siblings,
but we are now
- without question -
very good friends
now that we have been FULLY introduced.
And?
It's amazing.
A.
TIME!
I couldn't have planned
to have so much fun on a trip.
I am CAPTIVATED by my brother,
he is
absolutely
amazing.
Having half-siblings,
but feeling like an only child growing up
it has been an education
to connect with my older brother.
There are the little things like
we're both whooping at a concert,
and I ask,
"Hey, can you whistle?"
and he shakes his head regretfully
"Nope, never could."
"Damn! Me neither."
And we go back to hollering,
because that's what we CAN do.
How he checks the clock,
"It's been awhile since we ate,
I'm not hungry yet, but are you?
We can find a place to eat if you want."
And I shake my head,
"Nope. I don't eat very often.
1 or 2x a day is usually plenty for me."
"Huh," he nods
"I'm about the same."
We're very similar somehow
despite only seeing each other in person
for a couple days every 5 years or so.
Lots of little things,
little ways
we mirror each other naturally
despite our legitimate ignorance of each other.
"I realize,"
he says, with an upturned lilt to his voice
"you probably've never seen me in my uniform."
"I've seen pictures," I say,
"but this is the first time I've seen it in person.
Looking good, Brother!"
He's been in the military for over 30 years.
He has stripes
and patches
and badges all over
his day wear fatigues.
Everyone calls his "Sir"
and most of them are a little nervous when they address him.
He said he really loves hanging out
when he can just be another person
among all the other people
rather than the One Person
everyone is watching for signals from.
All week we were free and easy with each other,
and in the meantime
we had a hell of a time
where HE was the natural leader
and I just got to enjoy the ride.
We 4x4'd in the mountains,
and went to a major league soccer match,
and drank beer and ate dolewhips,
and watched fireworks
and stayed up talking
and drove through the desert
and played craps
and drank at least 1 water
for every two free cocktails
and visited my PBS nerds
at PBS Utah and Vegas PBS
and tipped street dancers
and saw huge shows
and stayed up talking more
and went to art installations
and ate plates of brisket
while drinking and playing video poker
and stumbled back to our suite at sunrise
which is the only time of day
the Las Vegas strip is actually quiet.
We played more craps
and saw more shows
and he kept reminding me to keep a $1 chip
from every casino
and I kept forgetting
not to cash them in.
MGM
The Horseshoe
The Mirage
New York New York
Ellis Island
Golden Gate
Binions
Golden Nugget
Back to MGM.
Part The Strip
Part Downtown
Wholly hot
hitting
109F
then 112F
We ate perfect crab cakes
with a $100 bottle of wine
and laugh as people so easily assume
that if a male and female
are hanging out as a pair,
we must be flirting/dating/married
and we kept having to correct people,
"No! He's my BROTHER!!"
and
"She's my SISTER!
We're just on the town!"
We drove back to Salt Lake City
through Zion and talked the whole way
and when we crashed back to earth
it was like we'd been in orbit
instead of Vegas.
I'm overwhelmed and grateful
with this new dimension between us
because we are distant siblings,
but we are now
- without question -
very good friends
now that we have been FULLY introduced.
And?
It's amazing.