This City is Haunted

I was in the most haunted city in America this past weekend. No, I wasn't in New Orleans or visiting former slave quarters in the deep South. I was in Las Vegas. Ghosts of gangsters past you ask? Slain show girls? Hookers with a heart of gold bludgeoned over drug money? Nope- this city, like the poorly reviewed Matthew McConaughey movie, was haunted with the ghosts of boyfriends past.

Even though they're still alive, they're (mostly) dead to me. But their spirit lives on. My ex lived in Las Vegas for a year, so I know the city inside and out. While in Sin City, I planned a formal dinner for my family at a restaurant that I loved. As soon as I arrived I could feel his energy. We'd fallen in love there over a six course chef's tasting menu with wine pairings (the wine facilitated the falling in love part). Like incense, the smell of the restaurant flooded me with the memory of our conversation there- discussing where in the world we wanted to travel. His top choice was London. He was English by blood and wanted to go. We never did. Ironically, two years from that fateful dinner, I was back in that same restaurant, assigned to go to London, where he would not be joining me.

The ghosts haunt us in dreams. My family member roomie on the Las Vegas trip woke up on Friday morning having dreamed of her ex. Seeing his visage in her mind brought back so many emotions- fear, anger, loathing, sadness, regret - it's amazing that an apparition brought about by the sub-conscious can still have so much power. She didn't even see him or hear from him - but his ghost still lives in her memory, ready to pounce on her as a nightmare with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" playing as the soundtrack.

I've Taken These Pictures Before. We went on a day trip to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, the exact same excursion I'd taken with a different boyfriend and his parents four years prior. As I stood on the lookout, I was reminded that this picture exists somewhere else- with me four years younger and ten pounds heavier, my arms around a man who wraps his arms around his fiance now. No wonder I lost it coming home from the craps tables at two in the morning the last night of the trip. I've heard when people see ghosts they often tremble, scream or cry. I know I did all three.

The Only Cure is to Release the Ghost. Like any good psychic or badly acted show on the Sci Fi network would tell you, the only way out is to tell the ghost to go into the light - to release it from its earth-bound life to the otherside. Maybe some of our ghosts go to hell- I can imagine a couple I'd like to send there. But mostly, I'd like to be free of them. Exes of the world, I release you, and hope in turn, you release me. I'd like to go back to Vegas soon- and I'd appreciate it if no ghosts, only Lady Luck, would accompany me next time.