A long time ago, in what feels like a different galaxy, I was living in Provo , working on the last year of my master's program. After living for several years in the same place, I had recently moved. Because my roommates and I were all at least 25 years old, we weren't bound by the rule mandating that girls and boys couldn't live in the same section of an apartment building. So, we lived in a condo on a hall with three apartments of boys.
Across the hall were some guys that we liked to spend time with. I had started to develop a secret crush on one of them, which was just plain ridiculous because he had recently had a crush on my roommate and because he was quite a bit younger than me and because there was no way that he would ever reciprocate the feelings. But, we hung out.
In January of that year, this guy casually asked if I wanted to go see the Utah Symphony play a Rachmaninoff piano concerto, and I casually said yes. I don't remember all the details, but it seemed like he backed out because of a snow storm, allegedly bad enough to make driving to SLC too difficult. I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it--this was in the days before cell phones--but he left a note at my apartment. Then he spent the whole night in the computer lab, working on some kind of homework assignment. I was mad at him because I felt like he was treating me a little too casually. We were going to this concert, then he backed out rather thoughtlessly. That made me all the madder at myself that I was liking him. He wasn't treating me like a real date, he was treating me like a casual friend.
AJ has never lived that down, even though we've gone to several Rachmaninoff concerts since then. We get to go to another one tonight. A friend of ours plays french horn for the Minnesota Orchestra. He knows that AJ really loves the bombastic Russian composers who favor compositions that prominently feature the low brass. And so, when a Rachmaninoff and Shostikovitch program came up, he emailed to ask if we wanted tickets.
It's been a while since we've been out for date night. It's hard with little kids and lots going on. But, tonight we'll go to dinner, and then go listen to the amazing Rach 3. I'm really looking forward to it.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Night Out
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6 comments:
I hope it's a great night out. I love to hear stories like this about my friends' past lives. :)
Love this story!
This is a great story. Makes me think about the time I thought Jason had asked me out. I met him at his apartment to watch a movie, and discovered that about 15 other girls had been invited, too. NOT a good start to a romantic relationship. He hates it when I tell that story.
How was the concert? Did you go someplace nice for dinner as well?
Yes! The concert was amazing. That piano concerto is simply incredible. There was this thrumming, this power, this feeling. I don't know how the pianists do it. The music has been galloping through my brain, both during sleeping and awake, since then.
We went to PF Chang's before, since we had a gift card there from Christmas. It was good, but it was especially nice to have uninterrupted time just to talk which just doesn't happen often enough.
This is a great story! And I love the Gustavo pic. ;-)
Good eye, andalucy. I just randomly selected a conductor picture with an orchestra from google pics, but then afterwards thought I should have tried to find one of Andrew Litton. I love Gustavo's hair.
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