I Went To A Symphony!

On Friday evening, I went to a symphony.  Other than when DD2 was in choir during college, and they performed on the same night as the college's local symphony orchestra, and once when I was really young and went with my parents to a Christmas concert put on by a small local symphony orchestra, I haven't been a symphony goer.  Not that I don't enjoy the music; just too many other things vying for my time and money.

I almost didn't go this time either, but my kids schemed against me and came up with a plan to get me there.  My boys paid for my ticket.  My girls were in charge of transporting me and feeding me dinner before hand.

And so, in the name of a Mother's Day present, I went to the symphony.

DD1 and DD2 came and got me, all dressed up, and took me out to dinner. We'd chosen a nearby Mexican restaurant, and were rather overdressed for the venue, LOL,  But all three of us had a hankering for Mexican, so. . .  

It was a good meal, and I tried birria tacos, which I'd never had before. YUM!  Definitely will eat them again.

Conversation over dinner was good, ranging from trying to plot a 'group' Father's Day present for DH, DS1, DS2, and Honorary Son (would they be amenable to being a foursome for a round of golf if we arranged it?  Not sure. . .) to Faline's goofy picture on her Pre-School Graduation poster to whose house needs what repairs that could be scheduled into a rotating one-weekend-a-month family workday gathering for the summer months.

 

As for the symphony itself, it was wonderful!  I had such a good time.  I made oddball comments based on spur of the moment thoughts in my head in regards to what was going on on stage (like how the guy playing the wood blocks made me think of a defibrillator the way he rubbed them together and then pulled them wide apart to quietly set them down) that my daughters, who have similar senses of humor, totally got a kick out of without being offended by my oddball comment.  The music was terrific, the pianist, who played the entire forty minutes of the concerto by memory without sheet music was amazing.  And the grand piano was absolutely the biggest piano I've seen in my entire life.  (Is there such a thing as a Granddaddy grand piano?  If so, I'm pretty sure it had to be that one.)

It was fascinating to watch the musicians play; their natural body movements during the course of playing their parts, coming in and out of the piece at the prescribed times, made me think of waves lapping on a beach: swelling, breaking, flowing outward to build up and flow in again.

All in all, it was a very special gift, and I'm so grateful to each and every one of my kids (plus my DH who volunteered to make sure horses were taken care of in my absence that night) for giving this experience to me.