Night at the Opera

Okay, it was better than I anticipated. It’s definitely not the type of thing I’d want to do every Friday night but, in another couple of years, I might even want to go to another one. I’m all about being a well-rounded person, capable of enjoying numerous things. So, let me just say that opera is a nice thing to throw in the mix every once in a while. The entire night was definitely worth it when Leporello sang “Madamina.” (The song Kevin sings.)

We went to the opera with Justin and Michelle. Kevin knows Justin from the choral society. He and Kevin hit it off when they started talking about landscaping projects a few weeks ago. Justin then invited Kevin to come see Don Giovanni. Kevin told me that he thought about my mantra (accepting the precious “gift of friendship” when someone offers it to you) and decided it would be cool to develop a friendship with Justin.

I hadn’t met Justin until last night. Neither of us had met Michelle. In fact, Justin had just met Michelle on Sunday and this was their first date together. We met at Justin’s house before the show and carpooled together. Both of them are very nice. Justin is the 7th of 10 kids. We didn’t get a chance to ask much about his family but hopefully we’ll get a chance in the future. We don’t know if either of them are Christians. It was a little bit weird to be part of their first date. Especially since neither of us played the dating game; we were good friends before we became “an item.” Before we left Justin’s house, he took the four of us’ picture together, with his camera on a timer. Later we joked, “He probably just wanted Michelle’s picture and we were there to make it convenient.” ;-) In the car, on the way home, we both agreed that it’s nice that we’ve moved beyond that “best foot forward; trying-to-impress-you” stage. We couldn’t help but contrast our four-year relationship (marked by a myriad of trials and joys) with Justin and Michelle’s three-day relationship. This made me contemplate what it will be like after decades together. My dad tells me that your thought processes begin to meld and decision-making gets easier. I’m sure that’s not always true in relationships, but if that’s what generally happens, it's awesome to think about. The best is yet to come.