I had an unexpected call of duty yesterday —— my daughter left her lunch at home and she refused to go to her school's cafeteria. Cafeteria food is infamous for its lack of flavor as well as nutritional value. But I thought it could still be an option under certain circumstances. My daughter didn't agree, though. "I would rather go hungry." Now that, to me, is not an option. She is a varsity runner and yesterday she had a race in a far away city in the afternoon. I had no choice but to answer my call dutifully.
After I dropped the lunch bag off, I was on my way to A-Lot to catch a bus that would take me back to my office. Just as I was pulling into the parking lot, an unexpected rain shower started falling down. And mind you, that was not an ordinary rain shower. It was huuuuuge! It literally felt like water pouring down from a bucket! I was stranded. In the car.
Luckily, my music was playing. It was the Butterfly Lovers (or Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet), a violin concerto which I listen to from time to time as I drive to places.
I cranked up the music to the highest volume as the rain was beating down hard on my car windows. The piece reached the section where the violin representing the female and the cello representing the male played a duet to demonstrate their deep love for one another the moment he found out to his surprise that his dearest friend was actually a woman in disguise. Then the melody intensified as the story developed to the part where they knew there was this insurmountable barrier between them ---- she had to obey her parents' wish by marrying someone else despite her fierce protest...
The rain kept beating down like crazy on all sides and my car was totally submerged in the most powerful music that I have heard so many times, but never like this: there was nothing out there in the whole universe except for the rain and the music and myself. It seemed that I was in a cathedral that is shaped like a fountain with music coming out from the flowing streams of water. Both my mind and heart began to wander far and wide to Wordsworth's"old, unhappy, far-off things and battles long ago". An incredible feeling! There were simply no words for it but an sudden burst of tears down my face.
I never knew that rain could be this beautiful, music could be this beautiful and, of course, love.