I think I’ve mention how much I love music. Well, Henry loves listening to music more than anyone I know. He constantly has it on including when he’s falling asleep, which drives me absolutely bonkers. His new obsession is Carmina Burana – O Fortuna, a song taken from a collection of poems written mostly in Latin from the 11th and 12th century. O Fortuna was put to new music by the German composer Carl Orff in the mid-1930s (Wikipedia).
On Thursday, we went with another couple to see the National Symphony Orchestra perform several wonderful pieces including O Fortuna. It was uh-may-zing! However, there were a few things that made the evening interesting. One, I sprained my ankle at the beginning of the week and it is a little bit of a hike to get to Wolf Trap’s amphitheater from the parking lot. Enough said. And two, it rained on and off all day with a 60% chance of rain for the evening. Wouldn’t be a bad thing except we had lawn seats.
We arrived at the venue to find they were allowing us to park up the hill on the grass just a hop, skip and a jump from the amphitheater. SCORE! There was no hopping, skipping, or jumping for me, just limping.
We set up our picnic on top our water-proof blankets, which were spread over a tarp. The other couple brought two tarps – both of which are used for yard work. The one beneath our blankets covered the mulch heap and the spare is used to cover their sandbox. Really, there’s a point to all this detail, just bear with me.
We set out our spread – hummus w/chips, guac w/chips, fresh cherries, fruit salad, wonderful homemade chicken sandwiches, and homemade cranberry white chocolate scones. It was a beautiful sight. (I love food and if I didn’t have kids would blog mostly about whatever I was eating, baking, or cooking or what someone I know was eating, baking, or cooking, but back to the story.)
About two bites into our sandwiches we could hear thunder in the distance. One or more of us said, “Oh, I hope it doesn’t rain.” or “Sounds like it’s getting closer.” Several minutes later, little drops starting falling on our picnic. We quickly pulled the sandy tarp over our heads and kept eating. It wasn’t too long before we realized the tarp had tiny holes in it because it was woven and not solid plastic. Nice.
It also wasn’t long before the fact that we were sitting on a slope and I was on the outside of the tarp where water was running in a stream down the ledge and down my blanket became apparent. Let’s just say my rear became the dam that kept the front of our blanket from getting wet.
At some point, we switched to ponchos (also brought by the other couple) and just sat in the pouring rain. It would let up for awhile -at one point even stopping – but then another storm moved through bringing with it torrential downpours. It was at this point Henry said, “All we’re missing are gale-force winds.” Several times, my friend and I broke out laughing for no apparent reason just because the situation was downright hilarious.
During second said thunderstorm, I looked over at my friend’s husband and yelled (it was hard to disturb anyone over the sound of the music and the storm), “Happy Birthday!” It was his birthday and what a way to spend it.
But now to the real reason I am posting this. I sat there listening to the music and watching the musicians who were seated far, far away under the nice, cozy amphitheater; some bobbed their heads, some swayed their bodies, some tapped their feet. Sitting there, I couldn’t help but realize several things.
~ It is amazing how beautiful live orchestra music is even when opera is being sung to it and even when that opera is not in English. (overheard as we were leaving: man – I couldn’t understand a word of that? woman – That’s because it wasn’t in English. man, exasperated – They could have translated it!)
~ It is impressive how people spend their whole lives practicing an instrument to become good enough to play that music and play it well. Oh, and get paid to play it. I really admire that those musicians probably picked up their chosen instruments from childhood and never stopped playing, many of them practicing 4-8 hours a day. (I also find this a bit sadistic, but looks like it worked out for them.)
~ It is neat if you don’t stress about getting wet or having the evening be perfect how much fun you can have even when it’s pouring rain, your ankle is sprained, you have a sandy tarp over your head and a manure-smelling tarp under your bum.
I sat there listening to the music, looking at my friends and my husband, and thinking how perfect the night was. How I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. How my friends, who wouldn’t have chosen to go to a NSO concert but went because they wanted to be with us, sat there in the driving rain laughing instead of complaining. It rocked! It also reminded me of a saying I saw a few months ago and can’t seem to get out of my head. I will leave you with it so you can ponder it too.
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass…
it is about learning to dance in the rain.”
~ Unknown
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (4)
That was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful posts I have read! I’m glad you had so much fun!
you are so good at keeping things in perspective! thanks for challenging us!!!
Beautifully written! You rock! Love, Marmi
very well said! I love the quote, it really sums it up well!