As luck would have it

"Excuse me?"  I stammered, distracted, as I simultaneously unwrapped my daughter's straw and wiped up a small spill on the formica table.

"You won!" the voice on the other end of the line repeated. I could tell the speaker was smiling, the way her voice lifted with the word "won." My 11-year-old stared at me. "What's wrong," she asked at my confused expression. The 7-year-old was too busy tucking into her orange chicken to care.

"Excuse me-- I'll be right back," I said to the girls as I slipped outside the restaurant's patio door. Into the phone, I asked loudly, "Are you serious?"

"Yes!" the chipper voice replied. "You won our end-of-campaign giveaway: two nights, three days at the Paris Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and two tickets to the taping of the radio show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." After forcing the poor woman to repeat the information six more times, as I stared dumbfounded at my girls eating politely in the restaurant. I won something? Me?

The last time I won anything was a vigorous game of Candyland and I don't care who disputes it, the card had double blues. Not my fault if they didn't see it before I slipped it back into the deck.

But this... this wasn't mere trickery of young children; this was an actual SOMETHING. Something that required pure luck and no skill-- two elements of which I'm naturally devoid. How luck decided to sit on my shoulder for one split second, I don't know. But I'll take it.

Do you know what it means to go on a free trip to Las Vegas WITHOUT having to sit through a time-share presentation? It means ACTUAL VACATION. For two. Me and... well, after some consideration-- the drinking, the gambling, the presumed debauchery--  I figured yes, my 7-year-old would have a blast but *sigh* probably I should take my spouse.

After calling him and springing the good news and sharing a moment of utter giddiness, my husband and I checked our calendars: FREE. Zip, zilch, absolutely nada planned. When does that ever happen, in a family of NINE, that there is nothing planned for a Thursday, Friday and Saturday?

That night we confirmed our trip. We toasted each other. We allowed our excitement to grow. We won a trip! To Las Vegas! Just the two of us!

...and that's when the landslide happened. One kid has an award ceremony on Thursday. And then there's that musical she's been rehearsing for-- the show, the ONLY show, is that night. And after that,that very same night, is the Harry Potter midnight showing. Two kids take a train to LA the next afternoon, just after yet another kid has her 2nd grade class Thanksgiving party... the very party I'm supposed to be organizing and volunteering at, which is followed on Saturday by the last soccer game of the season...

...ahem. So other than THOSE things, those vital, once in a lifetime things? We had nothing planned.

So we're heading to Vegas, baby.

And returning with an awesome "Thank you" gift for Grandma. :^)