Goodbye old friend. I will miss the long hours you spent with me in the kitchen cooking our favorite dishes and dips. You were always instrumental in our Holiday and Birthday meals being successful. Because you were there working nonstop, I was able to get a table full of recipes done in a timely manner.
I never had to check on you to make sure you were doing your part to complete your assigned dishes. You were not only a wiz at making dips and appetizers, but you made the best mac and cheese, ribs, roasts, salsa pork, soups, and you could even make an awesome cake. Your abilities in the kitchen were limitless. For over 20 years you were there for me.
The thought of going on without you makes me so very sad. How can you replace a 20 year relationship full of so many fond memories. You were there for me through all the milestones. At all the family events I would look across the room and see you in your flowered finery with your red lining working faithfully to make each event a culinary success.
On your final day with us, when I held your broken form in my arms, I knew my heart was broken. The last few years I new you were becoming frail, and it was becoming harder and harder for you to mend. You showed the scars from falls and broken appendages, but this last fracture was just too hard for you to recover from. I would have done anything to be able to revive you on that day. But, it was just not meant to be.
If there is a heaven for Crock-Pots, I know you are there. What better place for a slow cooker to be than in heaven for eternity.
The handle of my Crock-Pot broken off and could not longer be repaired. A very sad day!
My husband and I went to the Dallas Elton John Concert in December at the American Center. We had seats on the side of the stage about 15 rows up. They were really great seats to see the stage, but we were under some speakers, and the sound was not very good. For me, I would have rather had seats father away, and had better sound. I think one of the microphones on one of the drummers equipment was not working very well, because when that musician played his sound was always distorted. But, It was Elton John and he was awesome! He is still one of the best Entertainers of all time and I am sad he is rolling up his Yellow Brick Road and Letting the Sun Go Down on his touring.
You pay so much money for concert tickets nowadays you really want to enjoy the experience, and the main part of the experience is to actually hear and enjoy the music. I have been going to concerts since the 70s and it is always a crapshoot as to what kind of experience you are going to have depending on who is sitting (I mean standing) around you, At first I was concerned because an older couple sat behind me and the man played videos of his daughter talking to him with the volume all the way up. After 10 minutes of that and hearing more about his family than I cared to, he turned it off. I was afraid he was going to FaceTime her, and have her watch the concert with them. Crisis averted!!
Just before Elton came onto the stage, a woman, her daughter, and the daughters husband/boyfriend came in and sat right behind my husband. They were all carrying large alcoholic drinks and were talking very loudly. Then, they continued to talk very loudly through the entire 2 1/2 hour concert. They would woo and clap when Elton would start a song, comment on how much they loved the song, and then talk through the whole song right in our ears. Who does that? We would turn around and stared right at them and they never got the hint. The song would end, they would cheer and woo, Elton would start another song, and they would start talking. I have never experienced anything like it. Elton was talking about his song "Daniel" and the woman said it was her favorite, and that she named her son Daniel because of that song, Elton started to sing it and she talked through he whole song. YIKES!! It got to the point where we were laughing because it was so absurd.
Then there was the young girl next to my husband that looked to be in her late teens, or early twenties, that was there with maybe her Dad, an older gentleman, and she was having the time of her life. She was singing every song, dancing in front of her seat, while the man with her didn't move, or crack a smile the entire concert. That was just the opposite of the young man sitting next to me that was there with his Mom. He was on his phone the whole time surfing, and texting while his Mom was singing and dancing. She was also having the time of her life and he was bored to death.
Sitting in front of us was the over dressed trophy wife with overly bleached blond hair, a tight leather skirt with a zipper all the way down the back, a tight sweater with a jacket and 5 inch heels. Her husband was much older, big beer belly, cargo shorts and tracksuit jacket. There was another girl with them, maybe a daughter. When going to their seats the girls had tall fruity fancy drinks while he walks in with a tray of gross food and a beer. They did not say one word to each other the entire concert.
Down and over a row was the over dressed date couple. He was wearing a suit and she had on a dress. They stood the entire concert with their arms around each others waists. I think they swayed through the whole concert.
Down to the left was the guy, maybe in his late 40s or early 50s who was sitting in an aisle seat. He sang every song and did the embarrassing old man dancing with awkward arm movements that endangered the safety of everyone around him. You only hope that he was drunk because it would be even more embarrassing if he was in control of his faculties.
In the section to our right and up a few rows was the enthusiastic fan with the beer. This is the guy that is so loud that half of the stadium can hear him. As he is wooing and yelling he is moving his arms all around spilling and throwing beer on everyone around him. I was just glad he was not close to me.
Then you have the people that have to stand during the entire concert, which I never understood. Why pay so much money for a seat, in a skinny row and stand for the whole concert. These are the few people that are located in the middle of the section and because they are standing, everyone has to stand, or they cannot see anything. Sit for the slow songs, stand and dance for the faster songs, and everyone will be happy. Well, maybe not everyone, lol.
This was Elton's final tour and I am so happy we were able to see him one last time in concert. We loved singing along with our favorite songs and remembering the songs of our teenage and young adult years. What a great send off to one of the worlds best entertainers. He had one of the all time best stage exits! He came out for the encore in a robe and slippers. He took off the robe and had on a sequined track suit. He played a few songs and when he was done, he rode a lift up into the jumbotron. It was perfect.
