Friday, November 6, 2009

The Opera, The Waiting and Sisterly Love

Baby Boy, my Baby Niece and I went to see Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme last evening. I so totally heart the opera. Baby Boy has come around to being fairly tolerable of the opera and I always include Baby Niece, because she enjoys the arts a lot, like I do.

I have always enjoyed all stage performances: the opera, the ballet, plays, classical concerts . . . etc . . . you name it, but could never really afford it in real life. Luckily because I homeschool and am part of a fantastic homeschool group, we get to go to the final dress rehearsals, usually the night before opening night, for free. It's a great way to expose children, and art-starved adults, to the visual and performing arts.

That's the plus, but there is the minus. Usually the performances are picture perfect, just like opening night, but sometimes they remind you that it's not opening night. It's a dress rehearsal. Last night the conductor had some fine tuning to do with the orchestra, so we had to sit through that process for about 45 minutes between Acts III and IV.

Luckily, we have lots of experience entertaining ourselves in strange and unusual places. We took photos of ourselves with our cell phone cameras.

Look.

It's pretty funny how my sister's child is exactly like me and, let me assure you, my son is exactly like my sister. My sister and I weren't best friends growing up. In fact, we were mortal enemies and fought like cats and dogs over any and everything. This was further exasperated by the fact that we shared a bedroom until I was 15 years old. It was sheer heck! This ambivalence lasted well into my early twenties. Oh, and I know that I'm not easy to love, so I didn't help the situation. At. All.

Of course, the Fates thought it would be a hilarious joke to have me give birth to a little someone who acts, thinks, and talks exactly like my sister. Ha ha! Very funny! In turn, my sister, three years later - exactly how far apart she and I are - gave birth to a little diva who acts, thinks, and behaves exactly like me. It would be funny if it weren't such a pain.

BUT - - this is the kicker. That simple fact is what has brought my sister and I close together. Now she and I are BFFs. It is hard to not like each other when I have to call her and ask her what the heck is wrong with my kid and what was she thinking anyway all those years ago when she did this, that or the other. After I realized how much like her Baby Boy is, and of course my undying love for him, it overflowed into love for my sister as well. It's really great to just call her up and pick her brain when I'm not "getting" what he is all about. She has shown me that different does not mean wrong, stubborn, irreverent or unbalanced. Different just means different.

All together now . . . Different just means different.

Oh, and don't forget. Different is good. ;-)

So this post has morphed from a commentary on the opera to an impromptu assessment of my relationship with my little sister. That's just about right. I think I may be back to my old self after all, LOL.


Have a wonderful weekend, Everyone! I'll try to get an actual homeschool report up next week. There wasn't too much school work on the schedule this week. It's been a week of life lessons, to say the least. ;-)


Until next time . . .


9 comments:

Heather said...

LOL @ "It was sheer heck!"

I've found sometimes the Mother's Curse (you know that one, right? "I hope when you grow up you have a child that acts Just Like YOU.") sometimes works in odd ways. Like with you and your sister bearing each other's burden on your mother. ;) I had three kids, and with only two parents, the curse had no choice but to repeat - I get TWO kids that act exactly like me, and wow I must have about killed my mother by the looks of things.

Teasing aside, awesome that you get the free opera, and the great friendship with your sister :)

Wendy said...

How awesome. I'm glad you had such a fabulous night!

My sister and I were, and still are, very different people. There was lots of tension growing up, but plenty of fun as well. As adults, we are DEFINITELY best friends.

Enjoy the opera season AND your awesome family!

Anonymous said...

Way cool that your homeschool group has been able to swing such a deal – I am envious! I also think it's extremely cool that your teenage son is willing to go. What a fine young man. :-)

Anonymous said...

So glad you got to go to the opera. You may have mentioned once or twice that you like it ;-).

I was playing Bach in the car this week and James says, "Oh, I want to learn to play that on the piano." Just as I'm about to launch in to speech 405 (pratice, practice, practice), he says,"But you'll need to buy the rest of the keys for our piano first."


My sister and I are also opposites, and she says she has replicated us with her two daughters. I wish her luck. Bwah, ha, ha.

Teacher Tom said...

I really want to be an opera fan . . . Or at least I want to be thought of as someone who is into the opera, but sadly . . .

My in-laws were both opera singers, my brother-in-law is a conductor. I've really tried, but listening to it at home makes me tense, and going to the theater makes me sleep. Thankfully, my daughter loves it and goes with her grandma on a regular basis.

I envy you your true love for opera!

Anonymous said...

Everytime I see an ad for an opera performance, I always think to myself....well none of my family members would deign to be seen there, but if Mom1 were here, SHE would go with me!!! It's always a nice thought, anyway! ;) So glad you got to go - - even if it wasn't "the real thing."

Jennifer in Vancouver said...

Ahh, the opera. I've been wanting to go ever since I first saw the movie Moonstruck. But I haven't quite gotten there yet, and your post reminds me that I need to put it back on my life's "to do" list!

It's great to hear about you and your sister and your respective children. LOL!

Jason, as himself said...

I love that you love the opera.

And I love that you and your sister each gave birth to each other.

Teacher Tom said...

I do LIKE opera, or at least I could say I'm PRO opera, but it does weird things to me (see above comment). Sometimes I think it's just that I'm a troglodyte, but there are other times when I think that I'm just too hypersensitive to the emotion of the operatic music. It overwhelms me somehow.

But more often than not, I ascribe it to my manifest troglodyte-ism. =)

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