Fiona and I made a whirlwind trip to Vancouver. For me it was the second in as many weekends.

Erin had pulled up her roots in Montreal, and was making a stop in the Vancouver area before heading home to the Kootenays. She had a date to perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Richmond Symphony.

We left Friday evening after Fiona’s last dance class of the week. We drove about halfway before grabbing a cheap motel room. The next day we finished the trip by noon, had lunch, spent some time downtown at the waterfront, met up with Noah, took him out to dinner and then all headed to Erin’s concert.

She was fantastic. So confident and charismatic as a performer, and solid as anything with such maturity. My sister still tells the story of asking her teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music when she was in college if she could learn the Brahms, and being told not yet, because she “hadn’t suffered enough” to do it justice. So perhaps it’s a testament to the awfulness of Erin’s life growing up that at 22 she can dig deep and come up with the passion and emotion that the Brahms needs. Whatever. We’ll take it. It was a great concert.

So now we’re back in the Kootenays. Erin is going to try her hand at finding work in Nelson. Fiona is in the thick of dress rehearsals for the Dance Showcase performances. Sophie is finishing school, as well as travelling and performing with Corazón and fitting in a trip to UBC. Noah is staying put on the coast, doing a summer semester. It’s crazy summer-like outside, and time to get busy organizing the Suzuki Institute.