Trina Machacek: If wishes were dimes

Whatever state you live in there are things remarkable. I am a Nevada girl, born, raised and living happily in a state of awe on each road I travel.

There are things that come up of course when talking to people of Nevada. Las Vegas and gambling come to mind first and are very well known. When I get company from outside Nevada and they want to stick a few bucks in a machine or across a table my reply is, “Thank you!” Because each dollar that is played is a dollar paid toward wonderful services supplied by Nevada. Each dollar and every dime too. Yes, even the dimes.

The legal age for gambling in Nevada has been 21 since 1931 so in my lifetime the legal age has been 21. I mean come on I am not THAT old! For all intent and purposes 21 has been a magical age to be sure. Way before I was of legal age when I was a kid growing up in Reno, I spent a fair amount of time in casinos with my parents who would “occasionally” stop and play a few of those wonderfully colorful and exciting slot machines. I was always entranced by the spinning fruits on the reels and the sounds of nickels and then as time went on quarters that dropped into the stainless-steel trays. Wonderful noisy magic every time. But! Yes, a coin clanging “but.” I always felt so sorry for the dime slot machines. They seemed to hardly ever get played. Ah the poor dimes.

I have given dimes a lot of thought. Too much? No, I don’t think so. Oh, we might hold off talking on and on about some things. There is a definite limit when talking about let’s say the attributes and differences between picking zucchini when it is 8 inches long or should you wait overnight. When magically that “zuch” has become the size of a midsized Buick. HAHA think all you want but. Yes, an exploding zucchini “but.” Think lots, talk a titch. Like talking about dimes.
At a glance a dime doesn’t seem to be much. Oh, then if you look again, it is really a cool little piece of shiny. It literally will gleam in the sun like no other coin. I don’t know what it is about a dime that gives me hope. Maybe it’s the way it was designed and then spit out of the coin-making machines at the various mints. If you look at the tiny dime it has wonderful edges that catch and shoot light back to your eyes making both the coins and your eyes twinkle. We all need a little twinkle in our lives.

Not long ago I was out with a friend, and she bought me this little 2” X 2” pink beaded pouch made of pieces of velvet and covered with beads sewn in the shape of a dragon fly. It hangs on a beaded string, and I had no idea why she gave it to me. She said, “Because I can.” I am not used to out of the blue gifts. It is so special to me. When I got home, I looked at it for a few days trying to decide all the what, when, and whys of how this little pouch came to my house. Then in a flash of, what? Still not sure. Maybe it’s my never ending need to dream and reach for all I can be. Long ago my other half hung a little cross up on the wall in our bedroom next to the bed, so I hung the pouch there too. It just so happened that on the nightstand there was a handful of change I took out of my pocket the night before and in that pile were a few dimes. Shiny and twinkling. I picked up one of those dimes and as I put it in the little pouch, I made a wish. Then over the next few days things got really strange. I know. Like my life isn’t strange enough already.

I went to the “city” shopping. You know what happened? At every stop, each time I paid I got dimes back in change. Oh not a few. It was more than weird. At the grocery store instead of getting two quarters I got five dimes. Then getting gas I got four more dimes and a nickel. By the time I returned home my pocket had fourteen dimes in it. Come on. Who comes home with fourteen dimes?

Cosmic things happen and we just need to go with them. Oh, I’m not wishing my wishes willy-nilly. I’m saving my dimes and combining them with prayers. You know, hedging my dime bets.

Trina Machacek lives in Eureka. Her books are available anywhere you buy books or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to buy a signed copy.