Death (but not Fear and Loathing) In Las Vegas (apologies to Hunter Thompson)

The Mar-Mac routine (after forty years of World of Concrete) is to set up a meeting room at the Westgate, in addition to our booth on the floor, and meet with customers to review our year.  We buy a coffee pot at WalMart and a bunch of breakfast and snack food.  With room service coffee at $50/gal, you can buy a lot of groceries.  Our customers like it better, too.  It is a pretty intense schedule for everyone involved whether you are on the show floor or in one-on-one meetings in the suite.   

Roy and Tom are old hands and enjoy a little blackjack at the tables.  Josh is taking advantage of the chance to see shows, see the sites and take in the world.  I enjoyed spending some time seeing things things from Josh's view:

Sunrise in Las Vegas from Westgate (previously Las Vegas Hilton in glory days)

Stratosphere built with Mar-Mac Wire

64# Nugget at the Golden Nugget.  I try to see it every trip!

Sights on Fremont Street in old Las Vegas

Fremont Street

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love

Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love

Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love (see this one if can only see one)

During our first meeting my sister called to tell me our mother had died.  She had dementia and was slowing deteriorating.  Like a typical McLeod, she had a strong life-force.  In June, she had been placed in hospice with “a week to live”, but was still with us last week.  She was in a pretty miserable place with some functions working fully and others failing.   I have been emotionally moved and touched by human responses, maybe more than I have by her actual death.  This is one message that was beautifully written and really got to me.

John,

There’s never the right words or enough words to express sympathy. When it comes to mothers, I’d suspect the words have yet to be created. Maybe they never will be. She’s one of the last of the old orders of things to pass away – and we’re left with a lifetime of memories that got us to where we are today.

Death is a great teacher – and facing death is always a humbling experience. If death teaches us anything about life and love - it’s that they both go on.

So, look to the heavens in that Texas sky and find the Milky Way. Many religions say it’s the path taken by the departed souls towards the heavens … the twinkling stars along the path, little campfires guiding them safely towards their next destination. 

Once upon a time … there was humanity

While my relationship with God appears to be “goofy religion” to some people, it seems to me to be equal parts “alone time with God” and “personal caring connections” with other humans.  I am still trying to figure it out.