The Importance of the Symphony

My mom remarried when I was 8 years old. They actually got engaged on my birthday, I remember because when my mom called, I assumed she was calling to wish me a happy birthday. Instead, she told me that Dave proposed. My birthday was not mentioned.

I don't remember how I felt about Dave when my parents were dating, but I do remember that at least in my tweens and teens, we did not get along. We have very similar personalities, and we often butted heads. I can say that there were times in my life that I hated him. I didn't even want to be in the same room as him.

My teen years were marked with a lot of angst, as teen years tend to be. I had a lot of issues, the biggest one being my struggle with bulimia. I began binging and purging at the age of 12. By the time I was 15, I had hit rock bottom. Three months in Avalon changed my life. Saved my life. Upon release from that institution, I learned a very interesting fact.

The insurance company only paid for my first month of treatment. The last two months were paid in full out of my parent's pockets. It was literally tens of thousands of dollars. In order to pay that money, my step-dad cashed out his retirement fund. It took them 6 years to pay that money back in to his retirement. If you know Dave, you know that the phrase 'penny pincher' is a mild way to describe his frugality. For him to spend that kind of money on me, an angsty, rebellious teen who made no bones about my dislike of him, caused 16 year old me to begin to reconsider our relationship.

One thing that we have always had in common is a love of classical music. Of course, I prefer Baroque era music, composers such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, while Dave loves the Romantic era, Schubert, Chopin, Mendelssohn. But, we can always agree to meet in the middle with Classic era music.

After I finished my treatment in Avalon, I went back to high school. Because I was taking Orchestra, I was required to attend concerts for concert credit. My mom, being a blindingly brilliant woman, suggested to me that I attend these concerts with my step-dad. I was very reluctant. It was hours of time spend just him and me. Grudgingly, I invited him to come with me.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be a lot of fun! Sharing a common interest gave us something that we had never had before. From that moment, our relationship began to change. Maybe it was just me growing up, but I think that the Symphony had a lot to do with it.

From that first trip, it became a sort of tradition. Our daddy daughter date to the Symphony. And I can say that this little tradition is my favorite thing to do with Dave. I hope that in the future, we can share this experience with my children. Three generations of music lovers at the Symphony.

Tonight, we are going to see one of Dave's favorite composers, Mendelssohn Italian Symphony. And I can't wait!!

(Here's how we do the symphony really cheap. If you are between the ages of 18 and I think 32, you can purchase tickets for $10 each. Then, you can either park downtown, which I hate, or take Trax. Now, you can take Trax from Provo. It's a little bit longer traveling time, but the station is literally right in front of Abravanel and the trains come every 10 minutes.)