When Opportunity Insists Upon Itself

For sixteen of the last seventeen years, my best friend, his brother (the Brothers Krahl, familiarly) and I have made our way to a Viking game. The Brothers Krahl are from Minnesota. The Brothers Krahl give granite-like strength and weight to the word stubborn, and it was easier for me to become a Viking fan than to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged Midwesterner. In the past, our travels were more or less at random, whereby we pick game and host-city based on nothing more significant than cost and directness of flights. In the more recent past, though, we have begun to favor Minneapolis, world-renowned home of the Vikings and deep-fried beer.

What Minneapolis lacks in tourist attractions, it makes up for in charm (did I mention deep-fried beer) and open-armed hospitality. The Brothers have a great aunt and uncle, Mar and Orv, who are two of the most wonderful people I have ever met. It is greatly because of these two, and the reasonably local presence of extended family that we will be going back to Minneapolis this year; our third year straight.

It is a trip I would not consider missing. The fun to be had and the memories that are spawned assure my annual involvement. Plus, I am responsible for securing free hotel rooms, so it is a trip the Brothers would not permit me to miss. An additional factor this year is a tremendously good friend of ours from London (currently living in London) who has agreed to meet us in the Twin Cities. Brit, a name which is affectionately and cleverly applied to our English friend, is another of the most wonderful people who I will ever meet(who or whom?) and further reason, if any were needed, I will not miss this year's trip. This year's game is November 4th.

I have a friend getting married in Bali on November 3rd. I have myself a problem.

I travel a lot. I love traveling and spend more money than I make in pursuit of it. I have never been to Bali, have never had the opportunity to go to Bali, and short of this upcoming trip, will probably never get this kind of chance again.

So, I can't, am not going to miss, the trip to Minnesota. But how can I miss Bali? I likely can't. Especially when you consider the group, some twenty-strong, that is going to be making that trip, which is headed by the Brothers Nagpal; a duo that rivals the Krahls in stubbornness and implacable will. I have already tried to explain the potential conflict to the Nagpals, though when the word Minneapolis leaked out, they stopped taking me seriously.