The Legend of Harvey Hundo

In May of 2007, I visited B in High Dessert, California where he was playing minor league ball with the Mariners. It was a great trip packed with free t-shirts, a classy Red Roof Inn, and all the hot dogs, nachos, and cotton candy I could eat at the ballpark. Just before departing for the Sunshine State, we realized that B had an off-day while I was there. A miracle! We quickly planned a trip across the Southern California dessert to Las Vegas for two nights of gambling, wandering, and just plain fun.

Neither of us had been before, and I think we expected a little more, well, cheese. Instead, we LOVED it. Loved it! We trekked to every hotel, checked out all the pools, gambled by the canals of Venice, and ate food, food, and more food on the streets of New York, New York.

The most amazing this is, we won. I mean, really won. And be "we," I mean B, because every time I sat down, I lost my $20 in about two minutes, so the dealers would wink at B and split his wins (which came early and often) with me. Roulette, blackjack, valet... he won everything!

We finished up the night around 3 a.m. at the Craps table with a bachelor party that was clearly having a good time. When they found out I'd never played, they insisted on having me go for at least one round. I believe their actual words used to sway me were "VIRGIN ROLLER!" screamed at the top of their lungs through the casino. No one even looked twice.

In craps, you roll until you Crap out, or something like that, so I just kept rolling and kept winning, for B and for most of the guys at the table. Every time I won for them, they'd tip B. I know deep down I should've been offended by the whole tipping, exchange, "virgin roller" thing, but it was just too much fun. I loved every second.

B and I walked away with enough money to take care of the rest of our meals, a little more gambling, and even a trip through the wax museum at the Venetian. We had $200 left, so we each took a Franklin and went about our merry way home.

I have no idea what B did with his, though I imagine it had something to do with eating, Amazon.com orders, or his Eastbay obsession. I, naturally, put mine in my wallet and basically forgot all about it. I tend to hoard things, and I'm disorganized, which is a deadly combination.

This summer, we decided we'd spend it on ourselves doing something fun to celebrate us. A few weeks ago, pre engagement, I suggested we treat ourselves to a night at the most upscale restaurant in town: Highlands. Little did I know we'd have so much to toast to that night!

We arrived at the restaurant last night, Harvey Hundo in tow, and treated ourselves to cocktails, wine, appetizers, dinners, and desserts, emphasis on the "s"s. When it came time to pay the check, our waitress told us that the bill had been taken care of. Turns out, several of B's coworkers were in the restaurant that night, saw us and knew we were celebrating, and decided to basically make our night extra special.

So now we still have Harvey Hundo and have decided to do something good with him for someone else. Kind of a "pay it forward", because after last night, we certainly don't need another meal, and I can only hope that we'd be able to pass that kind of happy feeling on to someone else that we love. I'll keep you posted...