My visit to Richmond went well. In the Library of Virginia I found just about all the information I was looking for, and stumbled across more that I did not expect. The Virginia women's history conference was wonderful. It was energizing to see and hear these professional historians who were so passionate and thoughtful about their work.
I also had a chance to have dinner Saturday night with a couple of wonderful friends I miss so much. It really did not seem like all those years had passed. Sunday I visited the old family homeplace on the banks of the Pamunkey River and my cousin, its current mistress. I had not been inside the building in almost 50 years. Some of my earliest memories of family holidays have me running its stairs, playing with my cousins under the porch, and annoying the grownups. Now I am one of the grownups. Conflicting emotions were noted.
My sister served a gracious hostess, feeding me, letting me sleep as late as I dared, and even taking me Friday night to hear the Richmond Symphony which was performing nearby with the Richmond Symphony Chorus. The venue was a large Baptist church, nice but carefully not too nice; they are Baptists after all. Fitting the surroundings the program was mostly sacred German choral music, with a Mozart symphony as balance.
I was once again reminded that whatever your musical taste, live music can take you places recorded music cannot. Turning off that MTV, unplugging that iPod, and finding some live music is like visiting again with old friends and revisiting childhood memories, real almost beyond words.
1 comment:
So true on the live music. I get a high everytime I get to experience that... Whether it be a friend singer/songwriter performing in a basement cafe, a church choir doing a requiem, or a broadway musical.
I need to do more of this while I'm in the music city. I don't want to look back at my years in Nashville and think: "I should've gone out and listened to music more often..."
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