Lincoln Center

 After our Brooklyn Bridge excursion, we had to nap at the hotel a little bit.  All that crawling wore Scott out!  We were joking about our First World Problem with the hotel beds:  they were SO comfortable that we never moved all night, then woke up with sore muscles from being in the same position for hours.  Boo hoo, huh?

I was thrilled about going to a concert at Lincoln Center.  The last time I saw a concert there was when I was in college.  I drove 12 hours from Indiana to see Nadja Salerno-Sonnenburg.  I can't even remember what she played, but I'm pretty sure it was the Bartok Concerto for me to drive that far.  This concert was the free kick-off to the Mostly Mozart Festival.  For the girls, it was somewhat of a consolation prize.  They would rather have seen dance, but every single dance company was out of town while we were there.  There was nothing.

The concert was sublime.  It was heavenly to sit there and know that the conductor and the orchestra had complete control of the journey they were about to take us on.  The first piece was Mozart Symphony No. 38.  The third movement is practically a flute concerto.  The whole thing is a conversation between the principal flute and the orchestra.  It was amazing!  I was hoping Golda would be inspired by it.  Afterwards, I made a comment to Golda along the lines of "Wow!  Was that incredible flute playing or what?!?"  I could see that she was fishing for something to say that would match my level of enthusiasm so that she wouldn't hurt my feelings.  She ended up muttering, "Yeah...the flute was so shiny!"

It was that moment that I finally knew that exactly none of Golda's heart is in the flute.  It is sad for me as a parent, especially because she has reached such a high level of accomplishment on the flute.  How I wish she loved it!  When I remind her that she was the one who chose flute as a kid, she agonizes, "I chose it because it was shiny, Mom!"  Nothing has changed; she still admires that about the flute.  :) Playing the flute has given Golda so much...daily discipline, an understanding of theory, experiences and friends in band, time spent with Scott driving to lessons in Sugarhouse, the ability to appreciate music, a skill to teach with and make money, and hopefully a lifetime love of music.  At the very least, she can observe with confidence which of the instruments is the shiniest when we go to a concert at the world-famous Lincoln Center.