I’ve Seen How the Other Half Lives

Last night we got to have a really cool experience courtesy of some new friends of ours and we got to see how people live who aren’t “Everybody’s Cheapest Friend”. Man, we were in some tall cotton last night, and I must say it was pretty nice.

Little kid #1 was doing a job shadow for hew homeschooling yesterday. We’ve decided to make her pick one job she thinks she might enjoy every semester and then spend the day with someone who does that job. She then has to follow it up with a report on that profession and the education required as well as an analysis of whether or not she really would like it. So this semester she chose being a jockey. (What almost 11 yr old girl wouldn’t?) We just happen to have a jockey in our parish and his fiancee works as th promotions manager for the racetrack. So, last night we got to go to the races and watch him race and she got us a private box from which to do it.

We spent the evening in our own private suite with its own balcony right over the finish line. (See the top pic for a look at our suite.) Dinner is included with the suites, so we got to go to the buffet set up by the executive chef (he used to work for Donald Trump), and we had our own personal concierge for the evening. He ran errands for us (although honestly we kept forgetting to send him and went ourselves) and brought us drinks and a huge display of desserts after dinner.

We ate prime rib, and some kind of yummy marinated chicken, and pork crown roast. There were lovely steamed veggies and home made rolls as well as hot dogs for the kids. Then for dessert, Miguel ,our concierge, brought us chocolate cake, cheese cake, four kinds of cookies and brownies.

The children were each given a pair of jockey goggles which they wore all night and #1 was given a real jockey’s crop. We all go to go through the pre-race areas which are normally forbidden to outsiders and watch the horses and jockeys get ready for their races. Little kid #1 got to holler “Jockey’s Up!” for the first race. She was thrilled. We were spoiled, and the morning after I’m still full.

The highlight was when our favorite jockey won and we got to go to the Winner’s Circle with the Owners and Trainers. They were very gracious and let the children stand in the front for the official photo with the winning horse.

Being such a skinflint, we never would have gone for the luxury boxes. If we had taken the children to the races, we would have sat in the peanut gallery and loved it. This was such a new experience for us. We were treated like the other half all night, and I must say that they live mighty fine.