Inner peace at Aliante to close out 2006

49 minutes till a New Year starts, and I am already spent as I begin writing this entry. I used to like being on the Strip to see the fireworks, but now that I have residency in North Las Vegas, I don’t feel like being on the Strip again because I feel like a tourist. I feel like I’m not seeing Las Vegas the way I want to see it: an ordinary American city that accommodates to everyone and anyone.

North Las Vegas was the answer to finding a suitable house for us to move to. Last year, when we filed escrow for it, the realtor told us that we are in a great neighborhood. Aliante, a planned residential community, is an elite, rich, luxurious place to visit, shop, enjoy entertainment…and we were just right next door! When he told me about this, I was grinning. But then, we had to leave the Valley. I had my Fall semester classes to take care of at Long Beach State, my mom had her preschool classes to teach, my dad and sister had to take care of patients at their respective hospitals.

The New Year’s Eve weekend was the first time we could settle in our new home, if only for a few days. As I walked inside and set my room up, I had a wide smile. No more hotel reservations. No more need to reserve a room on the Strip months in advance. We just had to drive down I-15 a few minutes to get to the destinations. I was enjoying myself.

But then, bad news happened. One of my mom’s friends who is also a surrogate aunt to me, was on the verge of dying from cancer. It had metastasized so badly that she was terminally ill. I was stunned. She was 65, and she was terminally ill. My mood became silent as I went through my rounds on the slots. I lost focus, and just a few hours ago, I broke down as we went back home to our house. The cold reality set in. 65 years old. I was anguished by the fact. She’s not technically a member of our family, but given her close ties with my mom, she might as well be. I hoped that she would be able to be alive enough to at least see 2007 begin, but my mom told me that she will be able to see it. She would just be bed-ridden.

Even so, I was anguished, and wanted to find a way to come to terms with it, and accept it. So, knowing that my family and I would leave for Long Beach early New Year’s Day, I took a walk up the street to Aliante. There was a park there where I could do some reflection and be at peace.

It wasn’t an easy walk. The path up was not finished yet, so my shoes had to trudge through dirt, a stone walkway, more dirt, and an unfinished crosswalk. This was nothing new; I knew North Las Vegas was still growing, and so it was. At last, I saw the entrance, with the community’s official logo: the silhouettes of two birds flying, combined with the letters enhanced by floodlights: ALIANTE.

I passed by houses, more houses, up and down winding paths. A young resident took a smoke as he cleaned his large SUV. But I was alone, by myself. The police weren’t there. Aliante, from what I know, didn’t have any intruders invade their property. But, knowing their status being residents of this community was a privileged one, I walked by, looking at the houses, eating some popcorn along the way.

Finally, I saw the park. Nature Discovery Park was a small park and activity center at the corner of Aliante Parkway and Deer Valley Road. Just across the street were shops and places to eat. The park had tennis courts, basketball courts, and courts where the young and young at heart would play shuffleboard. The park was sometime reserved for parties, weddings, and other socials. But no one was using it. Heck, they wouldn’t dare do it at this time of the night! Many of them were at home: they were either sleeping, surfing the Net, or watching the news or the New Year passing through other parts of the world. By now, most of the world had seen it pass through. The West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii and Samoa were yet to see it.

I found a gazebo, well lighted, near a senior community center, in the park. I sat down, ate morsels of the Orville Redenbacher Kettle Corn I popped earlier in the morning, inhaled the clean, crisp Nevada winter air, devoid of the pollutants of cigarette smoke that swirled all over the casinos and hotels in Las Vegas and the Cannery (North Las Vegas’ hotel and casino). And I reflected on the good things and bad things that went wrong, and I realized that when my time comes, will I be ready? And what if my dad’s time comes, or my mom’s or my sister’s? Will I be ready when that happens?

I knew that there was no way my aunt would be denied her opportunity to see the new year before she let go. Confident, refreshed, and with a smile on my face, I walked back home.

I passed by a couple of residents, saying, “Good evening. Happy New Year.” They said in unison, “Happy New Year to you too.” These residents have class.

It’s now 20 minutes to the New Year as I finish up this blog entry. As I went down, I could see the Strip and Downtown, and I know that I will be able to see the fireworks from out there. I can’t wait.

This being the last entry of 2006, I wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all of you.