Day Of Uber Awesomeness

Back in February my dear friend Heidi and I were getting our toesies done.  While the nail polish was  drying under the purple light we starting talking about classical music, which we both love.  Best of all, we both love Bach.  So in our conversation Heidi mentioned that the San Francisco Symphony was performing all six Brandenburg Concertos and several pieces by Handel over two concerts to take place May 5th.  I said, "Oh my gosh, that would be so awesome."  So she got out her Iphone and looked up the prices.  I told her the prices sounded totally reasonable.  She clicked her phone and said, "Well good, it is done, we are going.  I just ordered the tickets!"  Okay that was cool.  I am glad that I did not have more time to talk myself out of it.  

To sweeten the situation, when I told my family about it at a family dinner a week later, my wonderful son and his really sweet girlfriend said that they would come over after they both got of work and feed Liesl, let her outside and play with her for a while.  This totally eased my conscience for me since San Francisco is so far away.  

San Francisco City Hall

Davies Symphony Hall

We made it up to San Francisco in about 2 1/2 hours in Heidi's bright red mustang.  Sitting in this mustang is about the closest I get to being cool.  We were in our seats in plenty of time for the four o'clock performance.  We had very cool seats behind the orchestra.  Thankfully my friend goes there often and knows her way around.

It was amazing to hear the world class musicians in a world class setting.  The precision and energy was incredible.  I could not believe how fortunate I was.

Afterward we went to dinner and were talking so much that we nearly missed our second concert.  We got into our seats just as the lights were dimming.  The evening performance was quite a bit pricier so we were in the second balcony.  

This concert gave me goose bumps.  I had chills throughout the whole thing.  The beginning piece was Handel's Water Musik.  (Bach and Handel were born the same year and were contemporaries.  Though they never met, several of the pieces by both composers can be similar stylistically.  This is why it was so cool to hear their pieces presented side by side.)  

The last piece on the program was the Brandenburg Concerto #5, which features a truly amazing harpsichord solo.  It was one of the most beautiful and chilling things I have ever heard.  This evening concert did not have a conductor which made it even more crazy amazing.  I must say that the harpsichordist had some mad skillz.  Not a soul moved in this great hall while he played.  It was thrilling.

We made it home shortly before midnight.  My friend dropped me off and I walked in to find that my son and his adorable girlfriend had decided to stay and spoil Liesl.  They originally were going to just come for 2-3 hours before going out for the evening, just to break up the day for Liesl.  Instead they relaxed, played with Liesl, watched movies and had a quiet evening. My son has room mates so it is  a special treat to have a television with Netflix all to himself.  He said that they got to watch three movies and season one of a television show.  Liesl looked totally relaxed and happy.  My son said that they kind of spoiled her with treats.  He said that he wanted to play and rough house more with her but she seemed really sleepy.  (Thinking that she was going to be alone most of the day, I had taken her to the dog beach early in the morning and let her run for two miles so that she would sleep all day.  Oops.)  

It made my heart feel good that Liesl also had a special day.  My son really loves dogs so I knew she was in awesome hands.  I am also glad that my son and his sweetheart got to relax, too.  They are both on the tail end of having that bad cold that I had, so they got to have a peaceful evening.

This was such a cool day and I am so glad that I got to go.  It was so exciting.  It was one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to.