LUUUUKE ~ raspy exhale ~ I Am Your Conductor

so i am a star wars fan. i was 10 years old in 1978 when the first movie was released. that's 28 years of my life - a fan of luke skywalker, han solo, princess leia, et al.

i am also a fan of composer John Williams. he did the scores for star wars (of course), superman, the indiana jones movies, schindler's list, close encounters and tons more. we played a few of his pieces when i was in high school concert band and that just solidified my connection to his work.

so for an early valentine present, my husband surprised - well tried to surprise - me with tickets to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's presentation of The Star Wars Concert. and i say tried to surprise me because they mailed the tickets to the house - when they were supposed to be Will Call at the door. and then he begged me not to look it up on-line - what the program would be - so i didn't. (seriously, i didn't peek even once.) but while waiting at his house last night - before leaving, his dad asked me if we are going to see star wars with hubby's brother or not.

ah ha! so it IS john williams we are going to enjoy!

and it was really cool. the actor, Anthony Daniels - he played the droid C-3PO - was the narrator for the evening. when he came on stage in a gold lame jacket shuffling in a C-3PO-ish manner, i liked him immediately. he was hugely entertaining and added so much to the overall experience. at one point, his wireless mike went out. the consummate professional, he reached for the back up mike, explained to us - the audience - the dark side was at work all around us. he then explained how he would have to start over at the beginning and proceeded to use a Jedi mind trick on us by telling us "you won't remember any of this. you will not remember the technical difficulty." the audience roared our approval. he continued to keep us on the edge of our seats.

and every time his script would mention C-3PO, he would always over indulge in self aggrandizement - much to the conductor's faux protests. by the end of the evening - to hear him tell it - C-3PO was the larger than life, handsome, intelligent unsung hero in all six films.

AND they had 'characters' from the films available to take pictures with. the kids were eating it up. i may have been the only grownup standing in line to have my pic made with a storm trooper. who cares? i knew it was for you guys. the things we do for bloggie love...

but back to real reason we were there - the music of John Williams. it felt like i was listening to the soundtrack of my childhood when they got to the music of the original three films. the dallas symphony orchestra nailed the performance. the acoustics in the myerson are flawless. we had fabulous seats - when i closed my eyes, i felt like i was inside the music.

there is a saying that goes something like this...

every fragment of a song holds a past memory for someone.

and i believe that to be true - even before last night. you can be listening to the radio and hear a song and instantly be transported to a place in your past - good or bad. all from the sound of music. that happened to me last night with amazing clarity.

i have written about my childhood sweetheart a few times on this blog. i realized last night i was 10 when i went on my first quasi-date. he would have been 11. an older man. we went to see star wars - the first one. at the small home-town theater. one screen. it always smelled like old tennis shoes and stale popcorn. my mom would give me $2. $1 to get in and $1 for popcorn and a coke. our baby sitters sat in the back of the theater. we sat about half way down. he was on my right.

last night when they played princess leia's theme, my husband took my hand. i was sucked through time and space - to my ten year old memory. that song was when my sweetheart took my right hand in his right hand and put his left arm around my shoulder. it was the first time in my life a boy had ever touched me romantically. i got butterflies the size of cows in my stomach. they stayed there for a week. i remember my hand sweating in his. up until then, i never even knew a hand could perspire...

here i am, 28 years later, a grown women with kids, a job, a husband and a mortgage. and i close my eyes, listen to the music and can feel a ten year old's heart beating in my chest. pounding. butterflies too. i can almost smell the stale popcorn ground into the carpet. my hand is sweating. again.

thank you honey, it was a wonderful valentine's gift.

thank you mr. williams - for the music and the memories