Thursday, October 18, 2012

From Vegas To The Velveteen Rabbit


The hubby and I took the plunge and made our first trip to Las Vegas last week.  It was 3 nights and 4 days full of alcohol, gambling, money-spending, late nights, sleeping in and most importantly: NO KIDS! This marked the first time the hubby and I have left the 3 girls and had a vacation of our own. Work and school has been, at best, ridiculous and we have all been running on fumes trying to keep our lives together, so needless today this getaway was just what the doctor ordered.  Highlights of our Viva Las Vegas experience included: our first crack at gambling and getting the chance to put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is and bet on our SF Giants who won us $86 by beating the Reds (the random amount of $ is due to my very superstitious Hubby who bet $22 in honor of his childhood favorite Will "The Thrill" Clark), staying out at the club until 4am and not caring since we could sleep until noon the next day, filling our bodies with all sorts of toxins and not having to apologize, excuse or defend any of it, and finally having the chance to wear all of the non-kid friendly, hoochie clothes that have been just sitting in my closet after late night, impulse online shopping sprees (including my Alice & Olivia navy blue-glitter jumpsuit, woot-woot!)
 
Okay, so while this story of a Mama & Papa letting loose in Vegas is far from original, the events that occurred within an hour of our return to SF are utterly unique to our crazy life. The week before our Vegas trip, Chuli auditioned to be a part of the children's chorus for ODC/Dance's Velveteen Rabbit show. Each year ODC/Dance presents this holiday dance production starting the amazingly talented ODC dance company who are accompanied by twenty adorable 6-12 year old budding performers and students of the ODC School. Big sister Justice had the opportunity to be part of the show for 3 years and Chuli is taking up the tradition for the first time this year. The first rehearsal of the children's chorus was Saturday at 3:30pm and our flight back from Vegas landed at 3:00pm. Grandma was all set to take Chuli to rehearsal and attend the parent orientation meeting to gather all the important details but we pulled up to the house just as they were leaving so I made the decision to take Chuli over to rehearsal myself. I hadn't had to be a Mama for 3 days and figured it made more sense for me to be there personally to collect the important info. This last minute decision landed me in the middle of a room full of stage parents being bombarded with questions after I was nominated to be the "lead parent" for Chuli's cast a mere 30 minutes after touching down in SF. Lucky for me, it was a sunny day and a bright room so I could keep my Ray-bans on without looking suspicious. Little did they know that underneath my aviators was a pair of bloodshot, sleepy eyes, connected to a very cloudy brain. I wonder if they all would have been so quick to seek out my wisdom and insights had they known that just a few hours prior I was dancing the night away with a drink in hand in my high heels and skin-tight dress?

Such is the contradiction of being a young Mama trying to maintain some remnants of a life and identity not connected to my kids. At the end of the day the girls are safe and sound, Mama & Papa had a blast and get to return to all our responsibilities decompressed and rejuvenated, and Chuli will blow us away as she struts her stuff on stage.
It looks like as long as I have generous Grandmas, adventurous friends, my Ray-bans and a little bit of Advil on hand; I might really be able to have it all

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