Vincenzos & Tony Bennett at Ruth Eckerd Hall

Sat night I took Grandma and Red out to dinner, but really had a suprise in store for them as the night would go on. It started out where a month or so ago I told them I was going to be taking them out to dinner on Sat, Mar 29, to a restaurant called Vincenzos, http://www.vincenzos.us/.

Back in Dec., Grandma and I went to go there for dinner on the night that I took her to see Tony Bennett, http://www.tonybennett.net/, at Ruth Eckerh Hall, http://www.rutheckerdhall.net/index.cfm, for her 85th birthday party present. Unfortunately, due to it being an Italian restaurant on the night of Tony Bennet, the restaurant was packed that night, as was pretty much every other restaurant in a 10 minute driving distance. So we ended up getting a bite to it before the show at a place called Pete and Shortys, http://www.peteandshortys.com/. After we got back to her house, Red was home and the three of us we were talking about show. I could tell right away that Red would really have enjoyed going, so I kept it in the back of my mind that if he comes back again, the three of us would go and I would make it a surprise.

A few months passed, and low and behold, Tony Bennett would be returning to Ruth Eckerd Hall, http://www.rutheckerdhall.net/index.cfm. I talked to one of my friends at work who volunteers there and she was able to help me get 8th row seats for the show. I then told Grandma and Red that I'd be taking them out to dinner at Vincenzos, http://www.vincenzos.us/, that Sat night, Mar. 29th, but didn't say anything to them about going to see Tony Bennett, http://www.tonybennett.net/, afterwards. I told almost everyone in the family down here in Florida what I was doing, but no one said a word to them about it.

I told them I would be picking them up for dinner at 5:00 p.m., since we had reservations at Vincenzos for 6:00 p.m. I arrived on time and we began our journey to the restaurant. Traffic moved very smoothly, so we ended up arriving there a bit early, around 5:45 p.m., to be exact. They took us early and sat us down. We ate dinner, which was excellent, and the waiter asked us about desert. Grandma mentioned that they had desert back at the house, and we could go after our meal. I looked at the time and noticed that it was early and only going on 7:00 p.m., the show didn't start until 8:00 p.m. I then mentioned that we should stay at the restaurant, have coffee, and take our time. because I had tickets to a show at Ruth Eckerd Hall that I was going to take them too. Not mentioning who it was I actually had tickets for. We had our coffee, then headed to Ruth Eckerd Hall. Grandma mentioned, 'it's Tony Bennett right.' I said, 'No,' I just took you to see him a few months ago, these were tickets that one of my friends from work gave me for a show that volunteers at Ruth Eckerd that I thought you would enjoy seeing.'

After we parked, we headed inside then hung out inside the lobby and talked a bit while we waited for 8:00 p.m., to arrive for the show to begin. Fortunatelty, they still didn't actually realize that Tony Bennett was playing that night. We headed inside, received our programs from the ushers, and went to our 8th row seats. The seats were dead center too. Grandma was looking through the program, noticed that Tony Bennett was playing tonight, and quietly pointed it out to me. I just played 'dumb and smiled.' Red still didn't realize it. Then his band was announced and Tony Bennett came on stage. He put on a great performance, even better then the time that Grandma and I saw him in Dec.

After the show I told them about the surprise and that I had planned it all along. I even mentioned that everyone down in Florida, plus Terri in Mass., knew about it. Good thing is that everyone was able to keep a secret.