Those of you who are FaceBook friends with me know that yesterday was our 36th wedding anniversary — thank you for all the well-wishes! We had a fantastic dinner at a special restaurant, and invited our neighbor to join us. Our dinner companion asked us several questions about the life of a musician, how much practice is necessary, and concluded how great for us that we are of like minds. We told him that we know quite a few couples who are both musicians and can understand the commitment and dedication needed to perfect our craft.

I realized that I never posted Carl’s speech at my retirement party in April, and if you would like to read the entire script, you can click here. Otherwise, I would like to share what he thought is the secret to our success:

Probably one of the reasons that we have been happily married for nearly 36 years, is that we never really take our jobs home and we understand and accept our individual passions for things, the most obvious one being music. Yes, often deadlines and crunches do impact our domestic life, but we never let those things consume us. Kathy has more than her measure of patience (something I am now learning better in my “golden years”).

In response to this, I would like to thank Carl for his unwavering support of my career and goals, especially in light of my upcoming recitals — my first solo concerts in 28 years!  What’s surprising is that I don’t feel the least bit of pressure in doing this music, in spite of the fact that I have to get through 97 pages of sixteenth notes.

I’ll be sharing the music I love with the people I love.

P.S. Carl and I not only celebrated 36 years of marriage, but also 36 years of performing Bach together.