She is a priceless work of art

Last week Jenny Grafiada, one of Las Vegas’ most celebrated inhabitants, left our glorious City of Sin for its flavorful rival, Miami.  In lieu of her conspicuous absence, I’d like to divulge a brief recollection of our time spent together during our Roaring 20’s-- a vivacious, carefree time that I’m sure I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Although Jenny and I met when we were in our early teens, the real bonds of our friendship didn’t reveal themselves until years later when, as fresh college grads we looked around and found ourselves inexplicably back in Vegas. Luckily for Vegas, our inexperience with the “real world” of all work and no play meant plenty of time to take advantage of our sublime youth. A quick work-out at the gym easily turned into 3 hours of stimulating conversation as we slowly made our way around the track, attracting glances because of our short, very short, workout clothes. A fortuitous stop at Whole Foods, where we carried on a sort of superfluous relationship with the stock-boys, often merited the unexpected call of, “Emily?!” Only for me to turn around and see none other than my dynamic friend, with whom there was always more to talk about, and never a dull moment. Of course, the true revelation of our vigorous youth was no where more prominent than on the dance floor. Las Vegas has its fair-share of nightclubs, and whether big or small, we plunged our way through this city’s vibrant nightlife full speed ahead.  Getting ready for these extravaganzas played no small role in the overall outcome; we could spend hours getting ready only to arrive at the club shortly before it closed for the night. But we were a capricious duo and always had a great time no matter where we went and for how long.  If there were a headline to sum up our outings it would read something like, MOTHERS LOCK UP YOUR SONS, EMILY AND JENNY ARE ON THE LOOSE!

Unfortunately such a lifestyle can only thrive for so long. With time our adventurous nightlife capers devolved into brief chats about work, health (a topic we are both curiously passionate about), whomever we were currently dating, and the other minutia of every day life.  Still, sharing stories with Jenny, and analyzing them far beyond reason, has always been one of my favorite aspects of our friendship. We have so much in common that many times her reply would be, “I know exactly what you mean,” because she had recently been through the same thing. Even failed relationships seemed to parallel the other’s.  Jenny’s simple response of, “I will never judge you, because I would have done the same thing,” epitomizes the empathy and honesty of our friendship.

Back to the present, at the peak of monotony when my 24^th year of life begrudgingly approached, Jenny called to tell me she had quit her job. Perfect timing-- two carefree girls were back on the town. During our hiatus a lot of clubs had changed, a particular favorite had closed down entirely while others had new DJ’s and different crowds.  We embraced these changes and diligently resumed our festive, insouciant lifestyle, this time with gusto!

And so it was for a few blissful weeks until Jenny announced her sudden, inevitable departure. Our city’s loss is Miami’s gain, as this ravishing beauty shares her charm and luminosity with the fortunate people of Florida. She had been wanting to leave Las Vegas for a long time, and even though it’s hard for me to be so far from la otra parte de mi corazon, I am reassured by the cheap flights to Ft. Lauderdale that we’ll resume our adventures, this time in a new city full to the top with Cubanos. Music, dancing, Latinos, and Jenny… it sounds too good to be true.