2026 is a special time for the Fire Horse Ladies. (Chinese Zodiac) So in true fashion, this gal grabbed her besties and headed to Vegas for a big celebration. And I know this is a dramatic beginning however the story does not go the way you think …
I have been blessed to have long-term friendships with some of the greatest people in the world. I am not invited to the most popular parties, I don’t hob nob with the movers and shakers and generally consider myself a homebody who enjoys writing blogs on a Saturday night. However, I do know this – I have the deepest bonds and can text or speed dial a shoulder to cry on, laugh my ass off or just talk about nothing. It is a real gift that I am extremely grateful to have this in my life.
When I turned 40, my friends Marla, Renee, Debbie and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. It was a great time of sun, fun and chilling. We promised that we would go on vacation every decade and for some reason, we missed our first deadline. As 60 came around the corner, we aligned to really do it and figured out a date that was going work for all of us and that mission was completed a few days ago.
Our vacation did have a few minor bumps along the way including a cancelled flight that pushed us back a few hours and hotel rooms that were not ready on time. Finally after a stern word with management and some compensation for our troubles, we entered our connecting rooms at the Wynn which was just the right vibe. It was time for our adventure.
We began with a beautiful outdoors dinner at SW and began meaningful conversation reflecting on the last decade. What were the best moments in our 50’s? What did we learn? What did we want to do in our 60’s? It was fun to hear and fill in the gaps for each other as we knew each other so well. The Wynn’s water show began which was very entertaining and strange. They did a rendition of Major Tom (originally David Bowie), I am not going to lie, it was creepy with a large face of an unknown guy singing that transitioned from a light hearted song “I Got You Babe” belted out by a large mechanical frog. Someone was doing big time drugs when they created that montage. But you know … when you are in Vegas – go with the flow. After that, we walked the strip because Marla had never been to Vegas before. We moved through fictitious Venice, Paris and then a behind the strip to a set of shops and restaurants that were really fun. We did take a wrong turn and had a behind the scenes tour of parking lots and corners that had no access back to the main street. We all agreed to edit that out of memories of the trip – ha ha. After that excursion, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. We blamed it on the time change but you know we are 60 and we need our beauty sleep. 😴
The next morning, we were bright eyed, bushy tailed and started early. It was non-stop the whole day involving a yummy brunch, some mother of the groom shopping where I ended up getting a fabulous dress for that wedding (no I am only a guest). This dress is everything to me – it is velour which I love and I can do anything in it – 5K run “yes”, Hora (Jewish dance involving holding hands in a circle and kicking my legs – “hell yes” and just pure comfort for lounging – “yes, yes, yes!”
We then went back to the hotel to do some pool time which was short a sweet and not worth all the hours that was devoted to find the proper swimsuits (one person in our crew – worked very hard to be ready). Next we were off to a Billy Joel/Elton John cover band show that started at 6:30 p.m. My kind of event. It was great as the lead singer/piano player toured and was a member of “Moving Out” (the play of Billy Joel) which made him legit. It was a ton of fun although the audience was super old. He put a boa around a woman who looked 80 and there were a lot of wheel chairs. We had a blast singing and dancing in the little dive theater.
We then went to dinner and chowed down on nachos and walked back watching the Bellagio water show and seeing a lot of thong action on some tushies that needed to be covered a little more – YOLO 👯♀️ We did ask each other how much would we have to be paid to wear the showgirl outfit up and down the strip. We found that our price was kind of reasonable. I believe we would do it for less than $100K – good to know for the future. We then returned to the room and were ready to fall asleep. We had to keep it going as we had planned an activity which were notebooks about topics and answering the questions of More or Less. We decided to do one page which was around the next decade – what would we do more of and what would we do less of? It was a group effort with all of us agreeing to more happiness, health, travel… less stress, anxiety, complaining etc… It was a great way to understand our headspace at the time.
The next day – we walked around, went to a delicious deli with bagels the size of your head, souvenir shopping and off to the airport. What a whirlwind in Vegas and an acknowledgment we needed to make these trips more frequent and a priority for the future.
The trip went fast and it went slow as we reconnected in person. We started out by looking at the scrapbook of our trip when we were 40 years old. I can’t speak for everyone but I saw in “younger Risa’s eyes” optimism of a life ahead of her. Little did she know that she would be facing some of the biggest changes in her life – moving to PA, breast cancer, moving back to MI and losing her husband, having to reframe her career and raising her daughter on her own. And then, little did she know she would also find the greatest peace and stability in her life too. Crazy how that works. I know my friends too each had their ups and downs as well that I will not expose on a public blog – cause that is the kind of girl I am – a good friend and don’t want to be sued! 😳
It also occurred to me that at times we had not changed at all. Case in point, when Debbie showed us a TIK TOK dance she had learned. I remember when we lived with her at MSU and she would play Debbie Gibson’s song over and over again and dance- not sure if it was Shake Your Love or Only in Your Dreams. Now it is Taylor Swift (btw it was so cute and we have the pictures as evidence). And then we felt older too when Renee is about to have a married child or thinking about retirement down the road. Or Marla who has worked at Barnes and Noble for 100 years (I exaggerate – 80 -haha) and has been married over 35 years. Or the fact that we could fill in the gaps of each other’s stories as we went down memory lane. It was really nice to have people in your life that literally “KNOW” you!
I also have to admit, I was often struck thinking about our mortality too. We agreed to make our girls trips a little more frequent than 20 years as who knows if we will all be here then or mobile – which made me a bit melancholy. The nice thing of it all is we were very present and enjoyed our time together. We were not distracted and realized this was a special time. It was not a long trip but it was very full and will always be in our hearts. So we did not win it big on slots but we have certainly won it big in life. I am forever grateful for my girls and traveling through each decade with them… even if they are trying to convince me to take a cruise for the next rendezvous – ugh ☹️🥳
Seeking Wellness 