Rachmaninoff Night

Enjoyed an amazing performance by Keenan Reesor (who served in the Samara Russia mission right before I got there) of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. I was caught up in thoughts of Russia the entire time and couldn't say whether minutes or hours had passed. He is an incredibly talented musician, and I enjoyed finding the Russian soul in his portrayal. Thoughts of Moscow and old friends abounded.

I was able to finally meet him (my parents met him while I was in Saratov, Russia) and tell him what a fabulous job he did on the piece. When I told him who I was Mary Kay's daughter, he said in Russian, "Oh, so that means you speak Russian!" We spoke for a minute in Russian, and he commented that it was so nice to hear Russian again. He asked if I could hear the Russian in the piece--oh, my back, oh my troubles, all of this work! I laughed and told him I had thought of Russia the entire performance. "Your mom told me they called you Tigre in Russia, right? So cute!" Ah, another fond memory of Russia. In my first area, the district president (the leader over all of the Church in Saratov who is now a general authority) was giving a talk in our branch and went to say something about Sister Smith and me. He paused as he got to my name (which is quite difficult for Russians), and said, "Sister Smith and the Sister whose name is closer to Tiger!" Needless to say, I didn't live that one down for a while!

Keenan and I are both second years in master's programs here at USC--he in piano performance, and I, of course, in public diplomacy. How odd, we thought, to have both just barely missed each other in Russia (he literally flew home the day I got there), for him to have moved into my parent's ward and out before I got home, and then to meet in Los Angeles as we are both at USC. (He's married, so don't get any ideas!)