By Shannon Williams
I had a run of fun things I had planned get cancelled in the past few months, so I was going to write about how disappointing it had all been. I went on my phone to get some pictures of the tickets for one of the events and found some really fun pictures of some fun times I had in the past two months, so I decided I would write about both what got cancelled and then about some of the fun I still had!

When I turned 50, my dear cousin took me to Vegas to see Cher. It was a great trip and a ton of fun, she and I travel several times per year and had been to Vegas a few times so we had not made plans to go back to Vegas until we found out that Garth Brooks was going to be at Caesars Place in Vegas! She had just turned 60, so we decided that is what we would do for her celebration of that milestone Birthday. We got our tickets in late 2023 and the trip was all set for April of 2024. We came up with enough hotel points that we had a free room at the Rio and even decided we would go see Mystere by Cirque de Soleil, which we had both seen several times, but not in 20 years or more.

It was a heavy travel month for me, but I was excited to go on a fun trip and of course I had spa appointments planned. I had visited with my cousin about two weeks before we were to leave while I was in San Francisco for work. I knew then that she was not feeling her best and both her mother and I encouraged her to follow up with her doctor. Well, she followed our advice and low and behold discovered that she had a blood clot. They took her from the doctor’s office to the ER and she stayed in the hospital for week. You guessed it, it was the same week as our Garth Brooks tickets!!

While we were both disappointed, we were glad they had found what was wrong and she was getting the care she needed. Now, what to do with those tickets? We had 3 of them, as a good friend was to meet us out there and go to the concert with us. I have a friend whose husband is a huge concert fan and goes to several each week. I reached out to him and he led me through the process of selling the tickets on StubHub. We were thrilled when 2 of the 3 tickets sold for more than we paid for them, but the third ticket did not do so well. We were just glad we did not get stuck with them. A note of caution, StubHub is now issuing you a 1099 on any sale over $600!!!

My son got his Bachelor’s degree a few years ago, but he had broken his foot a few weeks before the ceremony and was still non-weight bearing. His college, California State Polytechnic University Humboldt is also called “College of the Hills” as it is surrounded by forest and hills. It was just going to be too much for him to navigate for the ceremony, so he decided not to take part that year. Covid hit the next year and the university had said that if you missed graduation in the past five years, you could come back to any graduation and take part. He was finishing his teacher certification in May of this year, so he decided he would take part in graduation and get both his bachelors and the teacher certification. I booked a room in January, had the flights all, set even brought a new dress! Well, the recent student protests took their toll on his campus and there was a great deal of damage done, so thus the graduation ceremony was cancelled. Evan was upset, but more upset were those who were not able to do their high school graduation due to Covid and now this. So, once again, I cancelled a trip and was able to get credit for all I had reserved. We had both decided that I would delay the trip till July when things have settled down. I tried not to be too disappointed, but it was also his Birthday week and Mother’s Day, but we both thought July would be better.

I was getting worried about Crab fest with my track record, so was glad that the rain stayed away and Roger Creager got to play! I did not want to be 3 for 3!

Now, don’t feel to sorry for me, as I have had some fun! I work remotely for a company out of California, but most of the TEAM I am part of lives and works in South Dakota. We have worked together for over a year and had not met face to face, including meeting my boss. We had to fly out to the West Coast for a meeting in April. Almost half of the team had never been to San Francisco before, so I wanted to do something fun and truly a San Francisco experience. I discovered a company called San Francisco Love Tours and they do a two-hour tour of the highlights of San Francisco in an old VW bus which is painted in Tie Dy and just too cute. After sitting in meetings for three days, we were ready for some fun and that is what we had. We laughed the entire time. Our tour guide was funny, cute and darling. He knew the city and had lots of stories to tell. We ended the evening with dinner on the Wharf at Boudin Bakery, and yes, we had some great clam Chowder and crab soup in a fresh hot sourdough bowl!

During all of this our anniversary came around, as it does every year. We usually like to go out for a nice dinner, which is something we just don’t do very often. We had decided on Rudy and Paco, which we had been to before, but it is just such a nice experience, so off we went. My husband had arranged for a bouquet of my favorite flowers to be on our table and we enjoyed a great dinner as it always is, and some sweet time together celebrating us!

So, as they say, when God closes a door he opens a window, I was able to have enough fun in the past few weeks, even though somethings got cancelled. I have shared some pictures of our van and my work team with the golden Gate Bridge in the background and also of my sweetie and I for our 11th Anniversary.

[SW: May-15-2024]