Andrea Bocelli accepting what I assume is his usual award for destroying relationships…

Rina and I both like opera and classical music, as well as some operatic pop. One performer we appreciate very much is Andrea Bocelli, who occasionally goes on tour and comes to our area but we’d never managed to catch his show. During his last tour, I bought tickets as a gift for Rina and we anxiously waited for the concert date. A few days before we we were scheduled to go, we were both upstairs in the bedroom and I started cleaning out the night stand next to my side of the bed. One of the things I pulled out was an old pair of Bochelli tickets from a few years before. I suddenly remembered that we’d seen him previously, and I even recalled the venue, the SAP Center in San Jose. I chuckled and held up the tickets and we commenced to have one of our typical conversations:

Matt: “Oh, we’ve seen Bochelli before!”

Rina: “I’ve never seen Bochelli.”

Matt: “Well, here’s the tickets, so obviously we have.”

Rina: “What’s the date on those?”

Matt: “Looks like about 2 years ago.”

Rina: “I didn’t go to see him. I would remember that. WHO DID YOU GO WITH?”

Matt: “I went with you.”

Rina: “No, you didn’t.”

I don’t have the best memory either, in fact folks who know me will tell you it’s dreadful and has gotten much worse. I started to consider that maybe she didn’t go with me, but I seemed to recall seeing his show. Besides, who else would I go with?

Matt: “I’m sure you went. I’d never go without you.”

Rina: “I’ve never seen him live before. And now I want to know who you went with!”

She was glaring at me accusatorially while saying nothing and I shifted uncomfortably. I was actually starting to feel guilty. Then all of the sudden, like a bolt out of the blue it hit me.

Matt: “You did so go! I can prove it! He had an unannounced guest singer that appeared without notice for two songs!”

At the same time we said the name of one of my all time favorite mezzo-sopranos:

Both of us: “Katherine Jenkins!”

All of the sudden her whole attitude changed, and we were fine again.

Rina: “Man, I can’t believe we forgot we saw Bochelli. I remember that now.”