Home Never Far Away

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Home is Never Far Away

When I first started playing poker, I never thought that it would bring me to travel around the country, visit different countries or even step out of the tri-state area.

Although I have family and friends all over the country, when you are born and raised in a small state, you sometimes feel that is where you will always stay.

Although my current position in the poker industry is somewhat modest as traveling the tournament circuit and variance hits like a brick, I am so fortunate to have the best friends and best family in the world.

Whenever I had a substantial win, I decided, I could not enjoy it without the companionship of my friends from back home or my family. Although I've often tainted my victory by overgifting the wrong people, I have realized that in sharing experiences with friends and family that will always be there for me, I have no regrets ever.

This weekend revealed that my true friends are never too far away or too busy to throw some drinks back, relax and have a wonderful time.

Never thought poker would bring travel out of the tri-state area.

Sometimes, the randomness of activities seems to excite me the most. I woke up fairly hungover on Sunday morning but decided I wanted to spend some time outdoors with everyone.

Dana and I decided it would be best for a zoo trip, although we could not round up our crew from the night before, as they all decided to sleep in.

Fortunately, we found one strong soldier, Carmen, and we all spent a nice day watching monkeys dangle from trees, a skinny tiger lying in the sun and I was bold enough to walk into the petting zone and hang out with some pygmy goats.

Afterwards, we watched a marathon of vampire-type movies and Carmen and I would take walking trips to get lemon water ice and came back to visit Dana, who seemed to have an affinity for the couch.

After Dana left to go spend some time with her boyfriend, Carmen and I were tossed up on whether or not to go see Wanted or Wall-E at the movie theatre.

Bold enough to hang out with the pygmy goats.

We chose the new Angelina Jolie movie, Wanted, and absolutely had no regrets. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. We all felt like we were kids again.

This week upcoming should be another fun one, as I am enjoying the quality time spent with the people who I will always regard highly in my life. It's approaching Independence Day and I am quite the kid when it comes to any holiday.

If I could, I would celebrate every holiday, just for the sake of celebrating something. But on July 4th, I'm going to watch pretty fireworks. I think going to the beach to watch them by the water would be the best, or maybe even at a park, but in any event, it will be a great holiday weekend!

I hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating Independence Day!

--Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh

More blogs by Jennifer Leigh:

• World Series of Jury Duty - Outro
• Dirty, Sexy Beats and the Art of Breaking
• World Series of Jury Duty