Before I move onto the "You're raising your kids in Las Vegas?" posts I wanted to share a story with you about our Vegas trip in August.
First, you need to know that I love caffeine free diet coke. I used to drink regular diet coke and then decided to drop all caffeine from my diet (what was I thinking?). At the time of this trip on a normal day I would drink about 4 cans a day (you'll be happy to know that I have cut myself down to 2 a day). Here's the problem....I couldn't find caffeine free diet coke ANYWHERE in Las Vegas. I searched every restaurant, gas station and convenience store for my cherished beverage and came up empty every time. I was upset and quite disgusted. I was really cranky about it and kind of felt like a druggie looking for her next score.
We drove up to a gas station and Vince went in to get some Slurpee's (it's so unbelievably hot in Vegas...we literally were getting dehydrated on an hourly basis). He left me and the kids in the car with the air conditioning on. After he left I thought, I know they won't, but I should go in and see if they have some caffeine free diet coke! I was out of my mind (again...think crack addict) and decided to run in the store while leaving my children in the running car.
I was seriously in there for less than 30 seconds (and no, of course they didn't have any!). Upon arriving back to the car I was greeted by a not so friendly police officer. He went on to say that I was crazy for leaving my kids in the running car (I know) and that they could have been driven away by a crack head (I know) and that they could have died from the heat (I know...except the air conditioning was on!).
I felt horrible, apologized profusely and agreed on every count. Once he stopped telling me off I said, "So, do you like living in Las Vegas?" His response surprised me, "**** no! This place is a dump. It's filled with drug addicts and thieves; it's the armpit of the world!" My first thought was, Then why do you live here? Instead I said, "So what neighborhoods do you recommend we look for a house in?" He went on and on about how every neighborhood is horrible, how the schools are horrible, and how much he hates it. He only told me one neighborhood that's "safe" and it's too far away from where we want to live.
As we drove away I kept thinking about our conversation. This guy really hates Las Vegas. What if I really hate Las Vegas? What if we get here and I am miserable? And then I thought, If Jesus came back to earth to live right now, where would he live? I think one of the places he'd pick would be Las Vegas. He'd go to the place that was horrible, where the most "sinners" lived. He'd go to the messed up neighborhoods and schools. He'd visit the "thugs" and druggies, the gamblers and prostitutes, and even the angry cops. For some reason, this made me feel better. Knowing that I was moving to a place where I believe Jesus would go was surprisingly inspiring.
And all the sudden it didn't really matter that they didn't have any caffeine free diet coke. What mattered was bringing hope to a "dump" like Vegas.
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