an elton celebration.

If any of you who read this blog know my little sister, you'd immediately associate her with a love for Elton John.

Yes, that's right--my sister is 11, and she's been a die hard Elton John fan for years. I happen to think it's adorable.

So when I saw that Elton John was coming to the area a few months ago, I couldn't help but get her hopes up and tell her all about it and then proceed to try winning tickets on the radio. Needless to say, we didn't win them, and didn't have $300 to shell out for each ticket, and so we tossed that hoped-for idea away. Cue in a few weeks ago, when we decided we'd try Googling any last chance contests to win tickets, and miraculously discovered that Elton would be playing in another venue just a bit farther away for way less than half the cost that we had originally presumed. A few hours later, Mary had begged and pleaded and jumped up and down in excitement enough to convince my parents to buy tickets. We found just two tickets in a not-so-good section of the huge convention center, which meant Mary and I would be taking a trip to Worcester all on our own for her first concert. Ever.

Lord, can that girl scream.

We heard a bunch of classics that Mary was hoping to hear and had probably some of the best seats in the house! We thought we'd need binoculars to even see him, but we ended up with seats on the side of the stage (and the right side too, so we could see his face as he played the piano and not his back) and since we were so far to the side it actually made us closer to the stage! It could not have been more perfect. (This made up for the fact that we although we arrived early, we decided to drive two miles away from the theater to get dinner, thereby getting stuck in traffic for an hour to drive back the way we came and then couldn't find parking and ran into the show an hour late and with people in our seats! Argh.)

Mary found crazy glasses to channel Elton, and even made her own t-shirt for the occasion. And as we were getting ready to leave, she declared, "Ruth, I think tonight is a red lipstick night!" and even got to wear a little makeup. Ah, the things that excite pre-teens.

I'm so glad she got to see Elton John, and enjoyed her very first concert. I think we must make this a habit, Mary.