A Song in my heart

I am in listening bliss right now.

I have Cosi Fan Tutti playing on the Sirius Station. It is glorious.

When we were kids my mom (love you!) would play The Met on Saturday afternoons. . . . actually whenever she got the chance. She loves opera. The kids didn't. We were not as cultured as she was.

We would make fun of it and her, I'm sad to say. I don't know why. She took it pretty good--but as the years passed I noticed she was listening to it less and less. She used to whistle a song from an opera while she cleaned--I think it was from "Marriage of Figaro." Correct me if I'm wrong, mom.

When I was 12 she got tickets for us to The Magic Flute. It was in English!! What a treat!! I was still young and uncultured then, but I was excited to go. The night of the event I got a killer headache. I don't know if it was because I was excited or what, but it sort of dimmed the experience for me.

Flash forward years later, sometime in the early 90s. I am now a parent, and I noticed that Wagner's "The Ring" was being shown on PBS. I was a music student at this time and I knew a bit about this opera. It is a 16 hour long one. Wagner just couldn't tell the story in less time. It was being shown 4 nights in a row, and each performance was four hours long. By this time in my life I was developing a fascination with opera. And because of my early exposure (thank you mom--see you did make a difference!) I was recognizing a lot of the operas we listened to in class, especially when we listened to one that sounded quite a bit like a whistle I heard as a kid.

So I decided to give Wagner a shot. I turned it on and listened to it while I did my stuff around the house. Eventually I was sitting in a chair glued to the TV. Although I didn't watch all 16 hours, I think I got a good 12 in. I was hooked.

A few weeks after Emily was born, DH got tickets to Carmen for me. He is not an opera fan. He was being very generous and kind to me because he knew I would like it and I was riding an emotional roller coaster after she was born. It was in English too. Much to both our surprise, DH LOVED it!. We sang "Toredore" all the way home.

I have had many other opera experiences in my life since. But perhaps one of the best things for me is having two daughters who can sing it--and they like it too! So friends, go a see an opera today. You just might like it!