The Rules Of The Game

When people ask me if I gamble, I instinctively say no, even though life itself is a gamble. The first thing that always comes to mind is when my in-laws invited my wife, our son and me to go to Florida. I should have known the trip was going to be a disaster when I was backing up their new RV/van and backed in to a 100 foot motel sign where we were staying. This was not a good way to start out on a vacation with her parents who already listed 25-30 things they didn't like about me.I had never been to the dog races and when her father mentioned that he would like to go I was hesitant but a willing participant. I can still remember the filling of electricity in the air as people were placing bets on their favorite dogs to win or place or whatever and after watching a few races we decided to place a bet. As luck would have it for a newbie we won $80 on like a $10 bet. I had never been so excited in all of my days here on planet earth. I turned to my wife and I can still remember the words that came out of my mouth, "Babe, we're going to have to buy a wheel barrow to take this money home!" I clearly didn't understand the rules of this game of chance, but I knew I liked it!I figured since we were playing with the track's money we might as well bet big and get this show on the road. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out quite like we had planed and within 30 minutes I was betting our money, within an hour I was betting money we had put back for our rent that month. Oh yeah, I was learning a very valuable life lesson. Our mood had gone from being "on top of the world" to "what in the heck just happen"? To make a long story short, my wife made one last bet and as I remember the odds were really high. I think it's called a trifecta when you pick the 1st 2nd and 3rd dog to win. She placed everything we had left on a dog named Fast Eddie. I can still see Fast Eddie making the turn in second place and as he passed us he overtook the lead and won all or almost all of our money back. It was one of the most exciting moments of our young lives and a really good lesson on gambling, you have absolutely no control over the outcome. We were so thankful to have our money back and to be able to pay our rent on time. We finished the night out by puting a dollar bet to place on the remaining races and won most of them. We later learned that some were down a thousand dollars and here we were upset over a couple of hundred. I guess it was all relative. When you lose all you have, well that's all you have no matter what the amount totals! Never bet what you're not willing to lose! That was our first and last time at the track.
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