Nostalgia . . . . it's a bitch (NOT love Mick - sorry)

So -WE LAND In Vegas - I am beyond tired - jet lagged I guess - yeah! 3 hours time difference messes with this bitch - sorry to say!  I'm normally in bed  - reading by 9 pm - so we landed at 1am MY TIME though still "PARTY" time Vegas (though when isn't it party time in Vegas? - 6am is the answer - I know this because when I went for a run at 6 am Vegas Time all I saw was sleeping people on the street or other runners - knuckle punch baby!)  This is my ONE and only vacation this year.  I dieted - worked out and knit things for this vacation.  I got books from the library for this vacation.  I am NOT wimping out!  We get car.  Get alcohol for HOTEL room - I do remember said HOTEL mark UP on the things you WANT or Need - I drive outside can save you 50%.  So THEN we head to Hotel.  We go WAY north.  Ok we head to the Stratosphere.  Not the best hotel.  Certainly NOT the best location.  But 4 years ago Roger and I landed there May 2nd, 2008 to get married at a chapel just a limo ride down the road.  Roger scored a 2 room suite and THAT made "my day" the day of all days.   I HAD planned our wedding down to sewing my dress and getting the chapel.  It was so awesome - including his friend BOB miscalculating time and calling in the middle of the service :D.  So nostalgia - she is a bitch.  The Strat is NOT my favorite hotel but it seems we go back to what we know.  We always rent a car so who cares where where we stay?   I like it.  I get it.  It works.  Here's just what I'm saying  - I remember IT.

We landed - tired ready to game up.  We go North  - this time I mean UP.  The Strat you could pick out from the space shuttle.  It's TALL shall we say.  Bar at the top is cool.  We meet some girls on Holiday from  England.  Yeah - they fled the Olympics.  to tour our US.   One girl had a tattoo (hello - instantly cool right?) of Alice in Wonderland - drawn by Dali.  OMG the book is going for like $13,000 if you could find it.  It was of her jump rope and her skirt in shadow.  SUPER cool.  I loved it instantly.  They were on to Colorado the next day (oh wait we closed the bar) so THAT day they were on their way.  Hey Sarrah and Fleur!

I have since come back to reality - kids are back - I'm full on mom but this concept has stuck.  I love Dali and love Alice of course.  But what hits me and has hit me for years has been a a memory of a collection of books that I had as a child.  I remember them like in a dream - I had them and then my siblings summarily destroyed them!  My story my rules.  You don't like it Michael?  Write your damn own blog :D

Dandelion Library had some books on the alphabet - stories - peter pan etc. . . that were 2 sided books.  Three Little Horses was one of my favorites because just down from my house in Winneconne was the Mayor's house that had hitching posts that were 3 horse heads.  I pretended they were Blackie, Brownie and Whitey (so not PC - right).  I remember holding these books before I could read - willing what they said would just be transported into my brain - GOODNESS it could have been written in Sanskrit - I just needed it to mean something to me.  I wanted to KNOW - I had to know how to read so bad it was an ache I still remember.

Today I woke up thinking about a book I really (alright - desperately!) wanted.  Thank God and Ebay I remembered the title after I woke up.  8 bucks later it's posting it's way to my hands.  course I had to buy the set.  all told I spent 20 bucks on my childhood memory.  Not a bad dream if I do say.  I'm pretty sure there's a tattoo in my future.  duh.  THAT goes without saying.