Valentine's Day is here! I love Valentine's Day. I remember so well what the day was like when I was in Elementary School. Decorating your box which acted like a mailbox for your valentines was SUCH a big deal. I spent hours decorating mine...way back when. I also love old-fashioned kinds of things...like this greeting...
So glad that Rich is MY valentine!!So last night Rich and I went on a REAL date...not just to dinner, but to dinner AND the symphony! There is music...and then there is REAL music - beautiful - take your breath away - amazing - how does she do that - absolutely stunning - inspiring music! We experienced the latter kind last night. I'm so grateful for the ability we have to have recordings and CDs, etc. They are wonderful. But to be there is something entirely different. To see energy and emotion, even from very far away, is just...can't think of the right words...
The first selection was the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture by Tchaikovsky. Way cool. And then this amazing violinist came out. Her name is Viviane Hagner...I didn't take this picture, but this is the dress she was wearing...
She was the featured soloist for Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, op. 64. It is a familiar piece...I'd hum the tune if I could! It went for 26 minutes. She had not one piece of music in front of her. It is an incredibly complicated piece. What amazing, God given talent! I can't even begin to fathom how many hours she has put into developing and mastering her talent. How many times has she listened to this piece of music...100, maybe 1000 times...to be able to play it at such a high level of mastery? When you experience that 26 minutes and then it ends, you just kind of sit there in reverent silence before the audience erupts in applause. And then I felt like saying, "Oh, just play that part one more time...please, oh please, oh please!" I thought to myself, "Her arms, her fingers...they must just ache!" They were moving so fast! I came away feeling immense gratitude for having had that experience, and perhaps a little more determined to work on the talents that I have been given. Clearly there are not many Viviane Hagner's in the world, and there are relatively few Olympic athletes. I guess one could find their own abilities a little depressing when measured against such a high standard, but I certainly don't think that is at all what our Heavenly Father intends to have happen. There are so many, many ways in which to excel...from being a good friend, to knowing just the right thing to say, to mastering an instrument, to being an excellent employee, to being organized, to being well-read, to being an excellent gardener, and on and on. How boring would life be if we all excelled in the same area, at the same thing? I, for one, am glad that is not the case. My life has been so enriched by others who, in more ways than I could ever enumerate, have blessed my life with their talents.
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