"What Happens in Vegas..."

Las Vegas is not my favorite city. I'm not sure what my favorite city is, but I know that it is in fact NOT (1) Detroit or (2) Las Vegas.

But I spent 10 days there last week for work and saw some interesting sights during that time. I shall now share one.

The first night I was there, I was waiting on a co-worker to get checked-in to the hotel. I was sitting alone in the hotel bar for about 45 minutes and it gave me time to notice (and eavesdrop on) the folks sitting at the table next to me.

One of my favorite games to play is to make up stories about strangers...I think its fun to study them for a moment and then just spin a yarn about them based on whatever clues I can see from the outside. My neice Katie and I "met" a nice boy in California named "Brandon". He's a Christian, and he smokes. (He was in the car next to us-- we didn't really meet him and we don't really know what his name is, nor where he is on his spiritual journey. The smoking part is for sure). Playing this game, Natalie and I once developed a crush on the deli boy at the Home Depot cafeteria. He had lots of cool tatoos and had just gotten out of jail; he just needed someone to give him a chance while he was turning his life around.

You get the idea.

So at the table next to me in the Mirage Hotel lobby bar, there are 4 guys and 1 lady. I discern (no kidding) that the lady is a prostitute. She's not tacky or anything like that (no smacking gum or oversized earrings), but I can just tell that she is being compensated for her friendship.

The gents, by the way, are very "normal" looking young men. All married, according to their left hands. And they are so enjoying this girl's attention. Now, mind you - there's nothing gross going on at the table... that's what caught my eye. They are just telling stories and she is laughing to beat the band. Okay, she is sitting in one guy's lap... but it wasn't gross.

My first thought was to be judgemental (prostitutes, married men, there's a lot of fodder there for looking down my nose). But I asked Jesus to show me what He saw. The next thought that came into my mind was "wow - those guys are really enjoying her attention". The attention of a pretty girl; she's really listening, she's attentive, she's pretty, she's dressed cute, I bet she smells good even.

And I thought "every husband deserves that". The attention, the effort to look pretty even when you're just going to be with your husband. Many times I put in way more effort to how I look when I know we're going to see someone else. If its just the two of us, maybe not so much.

But there's another side too. Every wife wants to be that girl; we want to feel special and pretty. If we did, I bet we would laugh at more stories and put on lipstick just because. But somebody's got to start and I think usually we wait for the other one.

There was a lot of appreciation going back and forth at that table. I asked Jesus to help me see Stan like other people see him. I bet there's some girl out there who would be all too happy to "appreciate" him. Paid or no.