Author Wendy Mazaros wows 40 Plus-Just Us Girls in Las Vegas

At the end of the year I joined a great MeetUp group in Las Vegas - 40+ Just Us Girls in Las Vegas. They do all kinds of neat things and the women are all ages groups and professions.

I'd offered to set up a talk and book signing by my friend, "Vegas Rag Doll," Wendy Mazaros. Well, Wendy talked about her life as a 15 year old runaway who got involved with the Binion family and ultimately the Mob, how she finally broke the cycle and so much more. It in her book "Vegas Rag Doll." We had great attendance and everyone was blown away by Wendy -- she was engaging, open to talking about some very hard things and emphatic that she wants to reach out to runaways so they don't experience what she did.

Everyone brought food, drinks and so forth and I provided my home for the talk. By clearing the table out of the breakfast nook, and putting it on the patio for the evening, I was able to set up enough seating for 30 people to easily see and listen to Wendy. But, oh the food. We had enough to feed and army and have some left over.

We started the evening by just socializing and you know how women talk...and talk...and talk. Everyone made sure to visit the dining room table with the amazing variety of food. Some knew each other and others met for the first time.

Wendy circulated among everyone and many of the women had already read her book and were armed with questions, which she answered until her voice gave out.

Then people chose their chairs, and several of the "lucky" ones were able to snag seats on one of the two sofas while they anticipated hearing all about Wendy's life.

I was so happy I was able to set it up and mega thanks to Wendy for a wonderful insight to what it was like to walk in her shoes and be able to rebuild a life she can be proud of.

Why I believe in fate

I had to write this while it was fresh in my mind. Unless you watched the Today this Sunday morning, the names Joe Parker and Rick Hill won't mean anything, but it's an amazing story. A story that validated why I believe in fate. Joe and Rick, two guys in their thirties who were both raised in Massachusetts actually share the same father, but they never knew each other.

Joe was placed in the foster system as a tot and Rick lived in the next small town. Somewhere along the line Rick learned that he had a half-brother, but never tried to find him because he didn't have a clue where to start.

Fast forward. It's 2011 and Rick and his family took a trip to Hawaii. They weren't staying near Wakikki Beach, but rather on the other side of the island. For some reason, Rick said he didn't know why, they circled the island that day and took a walk on the beach. Rick, his wife and kids stopped to pose for some photos with the surf in the background. A typical tourist thing to do. Mom or Dad takes the shot while everyone says cheese. This time something different happened.

Enter 38 year old Joe, who had moved to Hawaii and was working in the hospitality industry. So he's walking along the same beach, sees the family taking photos and offers to take a shot of all of them. As Joe said, "I'm in the hospitality industry now so I decided to be hospitable." While they were talking, they both noticed the New England accents, and as people from the same area often do, each asked the other where he was from. Turned out they lived one small town apart.

Then they exchanged names of people they knew. That's when the world stood still. One of the names was their mutual father. The half-brothers had found each other through a quirk of fate. Why was Rick at Wakikki Beach that day when he never intended to go there? What prompted Joe to move to Hawaii and how did he wind up on the same stretch of beach at exactly the time his half-brother and his family were taking their vacation shot? What prompted him to offer to take a photo?

No one can really answer those questions, but it's why I believe in fate.