An Amazing Weekend

This weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a while. First of all, my buddy Cookie found a great deal on some tickets to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert so we decided to take advantage of the deal and go to their show. They were a staple in my childhood as far as music goes. I rocked out to Elton's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 album while mowing my yard as a kid. And of course we had Billy's album Piano Man.

I can honestly say my expectations were blown away by both artists. The decision to go was so spur of the moment that I didn't have time to really think about the magnitude of this event.

The show started out right away with them playing and singing each others' songs together. No opening band! How cool is that? Just getting to the good stuff right away. They started out playing one of Elton's songs and then switched to one of Billy's songs and kept alternating in that manner for about 30 minutes. Then Billy left and we watched Elton perform for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Then he left and Billy came out and performed for about the same amount of time.

Then he left and a minute later they both came back out and ended the show the same way it began: singing and playing each others' songs together for about 30 minutes or so. One of the coolest things was watching Elton do what I call geriactric acrobatics off of his piano. It was so cool. He stepped onto his piano bench and then put one leg up onto his piano and danced a bit. Then he turned around, sat on his piano, and danced some more. Then he slid off and starting jamming again.

The whole time I kept thinking that they have to end the show with Candle in the Wind and Piano Man and that is exactly what happened. It was the perfect ending. I wish I could put in to words how incredible this concert was, but you'll just have to trust me. I took some pics and videos on my phone, but I know for a fact that the pics are bad and I haven't checked to see how the audio is on the videos. If it's good, I'll post them later. We were about as far away as you could get from the stage and my phone doesn't have zoom so the only thing you see in the pics is two white spot lights that were shining on them.

So that was the main event for this weekend, but I had a pretty cool experience this morning. I had a friend in town and so I went to Denny's with her for breakfast. After breakfast, I was sitting on the bench by the cashier waiting to pay. An elderly lady sat down next to me and asked me if I was waiting to eat. I told her we had just finished. She told me she was there to pick up breakfast for her and her husband. They used to go there every Saturday for breakfast to eat the Grand Slam. He's 86 and not able to get around very well so now she goes every Saturday to get it for him.

Her husband was a professor at BYU, but the tradition of going to Denny's started when they moved to Provo from Dekalb, IL, where he taught at NIU. She said that he was always a sharp dresser, but now she gets to dress him the way she wants to. So now she dresses him in plaid pants and flannel shirts. Haha!. I asked her how he feels about that and she said he loves it.

Then she told me she could never put him in a nursing home. She pays for a caretaker to come every day to help take care of him. It's very expensive for her and their savings are declining quickly. Oh my gosh, I wanted to give her all of the cash that I had right there. It was so sad, but also so sweet how she spoke about him.

I wish that while I was talking to her I would've thought to pay for her food or ask if I could come help out with anything around her house. I may have to make another trip to Denny's in hopes of finding her there.