Who would have thought that a noisy, crowded rock concert would remind me of the joys in my simple life?

I climbed into my seat high in the arena last month and waited excitedly with 25,000 other noisy fans for Elton John to perform one of the concerts in his final tour. Suddenly, without fanfare, he appeared at the piano and started to play. His sequined jacket flickered like a million tiny stars every time he moved. The mirror over his keyboard reflected his stubby fingers as they pounded out the melody, and the jumbotron showed a bright pink scarf framing his aged face.

With my eyes open, I was clapping and singing along with everyone else, but with my eyes closed, I was transported back in time. I saw my dad humming Someone Saved my Life Tonight while my siblings and I argued in the back seat of his baby blue Cadillac. I saw myself making a chart of life goals as I sang I’m Still Standing. I saw my husband dancing to Can You Feel the Love Tonight with one of our baby girls wrapped in his arms.

As the concert ended, Elton John took off his gold brocaded smoking jacket to reveal a regular jogging suit underneath. He was leaving his old glamorous life to embrace his simple new one. A mechanical lift carried him off into a picture of the Yellow Brick Road, and tears streamed down my face as I watched.

It was only after I got home the next day that I was able to process those tears. There was sadness that a great performer was ending a career, especially because it reflected endings in my own life. My dad sold that beautiful Cadillac years ago and died a week before my third child was born. My husband danced with our baby girls, but will never dance at their weddings. Within 6 months of his death, our daughters left home for school and jobs, leaving my empty nest far emptier than I’d ever imagined.

My tears weren’t only sad ones, though. There was joy and hope and gratitude mixed in, as is so often the case with life. My daughters call me every day, and my husband is so much a part of me that I’m never alone. I have time to walk the old railroad trail behind my house and watch the trees change seasons.  I study the river as some days it thunders past and other days it meanders along. I talk to God and pray for family, friends, patients. I snuggle in front of the fireplace and read to my heart’s content with cats cuddled on my lap and the dog at my feet. My life is different now -peaceful, quiet, thoughtful – but my nest is not empty.

It comforts me that even Sir Elton John can turn away from worldly glitz  to embrace the idea of a simpler life. Hearing him sing about going ‘back to the howling old owl in the woods, hunting the horny back toad’ reminds me of my own simple, joyful life and the blessings in my own backyard.

I hope what he finds Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is just as good.