Dating in Las Vegas

People always ask,"What is it like to date in Vegas?"  My response, with a laugh has been a multitude of different things:  "It's great if you want to date someone my daughter's age - she's 24."  Or, "Yes fun... especially when you find out that he's married and wasn't wearing his wedding ring!"  Or, better yet, you date someone, who brings his own date along, and then receive a phone call hours later that he is passed out on the Bellagio lawn.  (I didn't even know the Bellagio had a lawn!)  Or, when you discover that he has multiple personalities, and you don't know which one you are talking to.  Yes, dating in Las Vegas is just as colorful as the city.

But my favorite story, by far is the one about the baseball players.  It happened only a few months after I moved here to Las Vegas in 2006. I should have known that this was going to "set the stage" for my dating escapades.

The place:  Tao Nightclub
The event:  a VIP host's Birthday Party

I arrived at the birthday party right on time.  Yet, I was the only one in the room.  I texted the person's who's party it was, and he responded that he was on his way.  I should have known that no one in Vegas is on time for anything...especially their own birthday party.

While sitting against a sofa, two guys walked in.  Attractive guys.  They walked over to me and I asked if they were here for the party.  When they responded, "What party?" I knew they were crashers.  It didn't really matter to me, since I was in this room alone, and now I was in the room alone with two good looking guys.  The conversation continued and I asked what they did for a living.  They both replied, "Baseball Players."  Oh, really? I said, "For what team?"  One said Kansas City and the other Minnesota Twins.  One was a Short-stop, the other Outfielder.  I asked more questions about baseball - hell, I grew up a few blocks away from the Yankee Stadium. I went to all the baseball games. I owned bats, gloves and caps signed by the players. I know a little about the sport!

When the evening was over, the Kansas City Player asked me for my number - which I gladly gave him.

The next day at work, I was telling a coworker that I met two baseball players.  He asked me who they were, and I gave him their names.  About 20 minutes later, he came back into my office, and said, "Those guys lied to you.  They aren't baseball players - at least not for those teams!"  "What?" Not baseball players?  How could they lie to me about that?"  Yes..."Carol," who lived in the South -way too long- couldn't understand how someone could make that up!"  The same "Carol," who forgot that she grew up in the Bronx! The "Carol," who almost forgot where she was living - in the "Land of Make Believe!"

When the Kansas City Player called that afternoon, I asked once again if he played baseball for Kansas City.  The phone went quite for a second... "Ugh.....Yes, I play baseball, but not for Kansas City.  I played for a farm team." He said, "I don't know why I told you that?"  Yes, me either! "What about your friend, the Minnesota Twin player?"  "Yes, he is a baseball player and he played for the Colorado Rockies...not the Twins." Hmmmm...a little detective work was in order!  I got off the phone, and Googled his friend's name, Colorado Rockies Baseball team, baseball card photos, you name it.  What I found, was someone with the same name, but the photo...not even close!

In my book, two strikes and you are out!  Why wait for the third?  I decided that I couldn't go out with the Kansas City Player...even though he was a good catch!

For the last five years, I have been telling that story.  The story of the two Baseball Players, who weren't really Pro Baseball players, but "Players" none the less!  

Fast forward to last week - very close to the anniversary date of the "Meeting of the Players" five years ago.  I was working out in the gym, and happened to glance over at this guy who looked vaguely familiar.  Could it be the baseball player?  I walked over to him and called his name.  He turned around.  I asked if he played baseball.  He smiled, and said "Yes?"  "Pro-baseball I asked?"
He hesitated for a brief second, smiled, and then remembered. He remembered all about me!

Ironically, I never forgot about him either.  The story of the two Baseball Players - I met at a birthday party in Vegas - will live on forever.  Little do they both know, just how famous they have become!

My Uncle Carl

Today would have been my Uncle's 81st Birthday.  Last year, three days before his birthday, I had a premonition that I would never speak to him again.  I told myself, if he didn't answer the phone by a certain time I would call the police.  Sure enough, on March 9, when he didn't answer the phone by 4 PM PCT, 7PM EST, I called the police in Long Island City, NY and told them to break down the door.  They found my Uncle, wedged underneath his bed, still alive.  He thought he was there for two hours.  I knew he was there for two days.  They rushed him to the hospital, and I received a call from the emergency room doctor, telling me that he had a stage 4 massive brain tumor, and they were sending him to Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.  My heart dropped.  Shocked, that none of us knew, or had the slightest inclination that something was wrong.  I had to break the news to my father - and that was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

I flew to NY the next day, and stood by my Uncle's side.  Not knowing where the knowledge of what to do, or even having the strength came from.  I just knew I needed to be there for him.  When the brain surgeon came in, he gave us little time to make decisions.  He wanted to operate right away.  My Uncle and I told the doctor, that when we were ready, we would tell him.  A life and death decision couldn't be made in a matter of seconds.  The doctor wasn't pleased.  But as I told him - it wasn't his life we were deciding upon.

Looking at my Uncle and holding his hand, I  said, "Well, what do you think?"  He said, "I am damned if I do, and damned if I don't!"  I said, 'Yes, pretty much...but what do you want to do?" He decided to go ahead with the surgery.  I kissed him, and said I would be there the whole time. My Uncle never shed a tear.  He never said, "Why me?" I was amazed by his courage.

He did make it through the surgery.  The prognosis was 10 months with chemo and radiation.  He didn't want to do either.  Three months is all we had.
He died on June 2, 2010.

My Uncle and I had a very special relationship.  Yes, he was my Uncle, yet he was so much more.  He was my teacher and my mentor.  I will always cherish our special bond.

During our last few months together, we talked about so many things.  I brought him a book of poems by Robert Frost.  I asked, "What is your favorite poem?"  He replied, "The Road Not Taken."
I asked why that was his favorite, and he said, "Its all about choices.  About good and evil."  I read the passages of the poem, and replied, "Its not about good and evil, Uncle.  It's about choices.  It doesn't matter what road you take, you will eventually end up in the same place." He smiled at me, and didn't say anything.  I read him the poem.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted it I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

 

You can do anything if you put your mind to it!

Six years ago, on May 5, 2005, the Carolena Campanella Fine Art Gallery opened.  The gallery was named after my two grandmothers; two very important women in my life.  The concept was very different and artistic in it's own right.  It was the melding of antique furniture, Tibetan artifacts, contemporary art, ceramics, sculpture and glass.  Movable walls created visual spaces that changed each month creating rooms within the gallery.  Each room was an art showcase, allowing people to visualize how their home could be designed utilizing art. Everything in the gallery was an art-form.  The walls were faux painted. The floor - decorative concrete.  The lighting was artistically designed.  Architectural elements such as old shutters framed the interior windows.  Steinway agreed to showcase their art-cased pianos that were created by famous artists and fashion designers.  There wasn't another gallery like it in the country. 

This vision, was two years in the making.  As the opening date arrived, the gallery was still under construction.  I was told numerous times by the builder that the drop dead date for completion would be April 21.  I was assured that the gallery would be open on time.  April 21st arrived.  The gallery was a shell.  It remained that way until May 4 - the day before the opening.  Fortunately the flooring was complete, three quarters of the walls painted, and no lighting.  The owner of Steinway came by for a visit, saw the gallery, and remarked how I would not be receiving a piano for the opening.  I begged him to believe that the gallery would open.  After all, 750 invitations were sent out and the gallery would open on time.  He looked at me and said, "Have you looked around?  This place is a construction site!  There is no way you are going to open!  I have built three stores, so I know what I am talking about!"  Defiantly I said, "Just watch me"!  I had no idea how I was going to do this.  Panic was about to set in, when I stopped myself and thought - there are two things you can do, and quitting is not an option.  Plan A and Plan B.  Plan A was moving full steam ahead.  Plan B was moving full steam ahead with options.  As far as I was concerned plan A was all I knew.  The gallery was going to open.

I gathered the troops.  There were seven willing volunteers.
May 4, 2005
3 PM:  A truck filled with antique furniture was waiting outside.  We loaded all the furniture in, knowing ahead of time where everything would be placed.
11PM: We finished the furniture placement, but still had a lot more to do.  The lighting was not complete, the outside still a construction site, and the art still needed to be hung.
7AM - May 5: the artist began hanging her work. A work in progress. Placement of glass and ceramic art around the gallery.
NOON: The Steinway Piano arrived. Painting was almost complete.  Electricians frantically working on the lighting.
4 PM: a bulldozer shoveled away the debris outside the gallery.  Landscapers were laying hay, and placing flowers around the gallery.  Still the lighting was not complete.  We didn't even have power. water or occupancy.  I was assured everything would be OK.
5 PM:  Breathing deeply.  Not sure how this all came together.  Ran home to change, and had to be back before the guests arrived.
6 PM The first arrival of the guests.  I was at the front door, welcoming them to the gallery.  The last of the lighting was hung.  Music was playing on the Steinway. 
6:30 PM:  The owner of Steinway and the featured Glass Artist arrived.

Both stood in the doorway looking in disbelief.  They both saw the construction site the day before.  The Glass Artist, came up to me and said:  "I was here and saw the construction site. I am not sure how you opened this gallery?" "I didn't believe it could be done!"
I looked at him and replied:  "I am not sure how I did it - but I believe there was a bevy of angels around me!"  At that moment, the glass artist told me about the gallery he was opening, and proclaimed that he wanted me to run it.  He said, "Carol, If you could do this, you can do anything you put your mind to!"

That compliment, coming from one of the top glass artists in the world, was beyond belief.  He wasn't one to hand out compliments, nor offer a prestigious job right there on the spot!  I had to decline his offer graciously.  After all, this was my gallery.  I would be happy to showcase his art anytime.

Carolena Campanella Fine Art Gallery was a vision I created.  It began as a dream that I turned into a reality. Right then, I set the bar higher realizing that I could do anything I wanted to.  The key was to have a plan of action, move quickly and believe that this could be done.

When I find myself doubting my abilities, I have to go back to that day on May 5, 2005 - it is then I begin to realize, all over again...if I could turn a construction site into a gallery in less than 24 hours, I can do anything I want.
Stay tuned!