Hit me!

Photo by Nicolas Raymond

I am the queen mama, bloody best, mo-fo fabulous-est Black Jack player ever!  Just thought you'd all want to know.  It's true.  Give me $10,000 fake dollars, an open bar, a dealer who has to count his cards out loud to twenty-one, a really great charity, and BAM!  World's best Black Jack player!

This past weekend, a friend brought me along to a charity Casino Night for Hemophilia of North Carolina.  We got all gussied up (lamenting we'd not thought soon enough to go hunting for some ugly 80's prom dresses) and headed to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for the event.  Let me say thank you so much to Sue Fletcher and the committee members who worked so hard to put on this most excellent event.  Thanks also to Gina at CSL Behring for the tickets and the invaluable gambling advice.  It was the most laugh out loud fun I've had in a long time.

Click to see the night's photo gallery.
I'm not in the pictures because I
was too freaking busy making lots
of fake money at Black Jack!

Back to my Black Jack prowess.  Seriously!  Consistently hit with 19, 20, and 21.  And I celebrated each win like I'd actually just won hundreds of real dollars instead of raffle tickets.  You've never seen anyone so excited to win nothing!

I fell asleep that night with a big grin on my face remembering all the silliness of the night.  I even dreamed that night of the event.  In my dream, my friend Em, who died three years ago from ovarian cancer, got to come along with us.  I didn't think it was possible for anyone to be more excited about fake gambling, but Em had an absolute blast.  It was a good dream.

I sometimes see Em in dreams, but they aren't often happy.  Usually, she's on the other side of a crowd that I can't cross.  Or, I'm waiting and waiting and know she's supposed to be meeting me, but she never shows up.  I wake from these nights feeling very low, very lost.  Not good dreams.

When I awoke from my casino dream, I was still smiling.  It reminded me that Em would like me to live a laugh out loud kind of life filled with celebrations and friends and lots of wine.

So, I say, What up, Mo Fo?  Shall we take on Vegas next?

But, I'm not playing Craps.  Even with my lucky charm close at hand.