Surprize! Surprize! I Liked It!

One of Daddy-O's favorites is Andre Rieu. The violinist/orchestra leader is kind of a cross between Lawrence Welk & Yanni only instead of polkas or trippy new age music, Rieu's specialties include Strauss waltzes & light classics.

So I ordered tickets for the 3 of us and you would have thought it was the most important event in the life of my 94 year old father! He reminded me daily to remember to pick him up.

So, I best not forget ...... the ribs are still healing and since I still cannot transfer Daddy-O from the wheelchair to the car, I rented a van configured for wheelchair accessability for the evneing. When we arrived at about 6:30 PM (8 PM show), he was sitting there in his jockey shorts. "Daddy-O, this outfit may be OK for a Brittany Spears concert, but Andre Rieu?......." At least it wasn't me who forgot. Two of his caregivers at his assisted living residence had him dressed and ready for action in no time. The evening went flawlessly from that time on ..... leaving 75 minutes before curtain (venue is about 5 miles away) to allow for all the festivities associated with transporting a wheelchair & it's occupant, we arrived in plenty of time to purchase a $6.00 latte, a plastic cup of Inglenook @ $7.50, and a $20.00 souvenir program for Daddy-O.

I had the surprize of my concert going life at this show. It was great! The orchestra had every note nailed (there was no sequential enhancement of instrumentation), the singers had each word and pitch prepared long before the tones ever came out of their mouths and the video production heightened the excitement for those of us seated in the nose bleed seats, the only handicapped seating offered at the Amway Arena in Orlando.

Daddy-O didn't fall asleep once, a testimony to the incredible talent on the stage of this fine touring ensemble. When "The Blue Danube" waltz was introduced, the audience was invited to dance along, and Be & myself did our best amongst the 25 or so daring couples (of the 5,000+ audience) to approximate waltz steps....... We probably would not have the opportunity to dance to the "Blue Danube" with live music of quality this extraordinary again --- so we took advantage of the next 3 minutes in time ..... Made us think ......... do we still have time for ballroom dancing lessons before Joanna arrives? ........ and so we skip merrily through the adoption waiting room ........