Looking the gift horse in the mouth

John's Radiology Department Christmas party was last week. We got a babysitter, got dressed up, and went to the Marriott in Research Park to eat yummy food and gamble. Gamble, you ask? Yes, it was casino night at the Marriott. We were each given points to exchange at the various gambling tables. John and I aren't so into gambling, so we sat around and chatted. Finally we decided we should get some chips and play roulette. John wanted to throw all of the chips on one number, but I wanted to make them last a little longer. My first success came when I put a couple of chips on 00 and it hit. The odds are pretty good on that one, so we were excited. A few minutes and a few wins and losses later, it was time for the last bet of the night. I put everything on the number 8 and, you guessed it, we won big! Our winnings were converted to raffle tickets, and we got 20 tickets! Man, am I an awesome gambler! (I know this wouldn't hold true if I tested it in reality, so don't expect to see me in Wendover or Mesquite anytime soon.)

We wrote our names on all of those tickets and put them in the box. The prizes ranged from pencil sharpeners, to $100 Amazon.com gift cards. We waited in anticipation. Each guest could win only once, but our odds were so good, we had to get something! But we didn't want just anything. We're greedy. We wanted something good. C'mon, we had earned it, right? About 3/4 of the way into the drawing, when we were started to think we'd go home empty-handed, my name was called. I had won.................a portable, rechargeable spotlight! The side of the box reads, "Ideal for use in trucks, boats, hunting, construction, camping." We mocked. We ridiculed. We even felt a little sorry for ourselves. When John's name was called and he won a $25 Target gift card, I claimed it as my own and gave him the spotlight. Even then, I offered to trade it for a candelabra we have no use for. We went home with our gifts and put the spotlight in the garage.

Two nights later, we returned home from John's mom's house at 10 pm to a dark street and an even darker house. The power had been out for some time, and who knew when it would be back. Luckily, John had plugged in the charger for our new gift, and we used it to put the kids in their beds. That spotlight has the power of 3 million candles! It almost blinded me when John pointed it at the wall in front of me! And it has enough power to last for days if you use it right!

We called the power company and 65,000 people in the Salt Lake valley were without power. Yikes! So we sat in candlelight and talked. When we needed to go into another room, we carried the handy-dandy spotlight and had more light than we needed. We marveled at what a wonderful gift we had been given and how useful it was really going to be. No more searching the grass with a tiny flashlight for Thomas the Train so that Carter can go to sleep. Now I can light up the whole yard and find things in a jiffy. It would have really come in handy a few months ago when I planted bulbs in the dark for 3 hours and kept having to stand up to activate our motion sensor lights in the yard.

The power came back on an hour or two later. We had a wonderful chat with no need for electricity, and we were ready to go to bed. And we had a new appreciation for our spotlight, which now has a special place in the garage.

I know, I'm an ungrateful dope!