There is sand in the cello

There is so much talent in this world, and I have yet to discover but a grain of sand's worth. Tonight was one of those discoveries.

One month ago we got two special new members in our ward -- Elizabeth Willey--and her cello. This girl is amazing! She plays for the Orchestra at Temple Square. She is the most sought after cello player in Utah. She studied at USC. AND......she played on the soundtrack of "The Soloist" with Jamie Fox. Ironically, she's never even seen the movie, but I promised her that that will NOT do. The last time I was in a movie, I made it a point to see it. She agreed. We will have a screening of it soon.

Tonight Elizabeth had a house-warming party at her apartment, complete with a Sunday bar involving EVERY topping imaginable. Including gummy bears. It gave the cello a run for its money! Towards the end of our mixing and mingling, we began shouts of "CE-LLO! CE-LLO! CE-LLO!" forcing her to give in and open up her cello case in the corner. The first song that she played was this:



Later on she followed with No. 1 in G minor (do I sound like a classic snob? i try) and Phantom of the Opera. I think she even threw in a few chords from Star Wars...something about Yoda's theme. Towards the end the theme took a more spiritual turn and we completed the evening by listening to hymns played by her and her friend on the violin (also completely and utterly fantastic). Melissa, who is also in our ward, just happened to be there, well. She is headed to the Manhattan School of Music in September to sing her little heart out. She sang the third verse of "How Great Thou Art" and we all sang the first, second, and fourth with Liz and her friend accompanying us on the strings. I actually just mouthed the words afraid to mess up such an artistic masterpiece.

One more grain of sand discovered. And there are many oceans. I try to dig my sand grains up every once in awhile. Somehow, however, I end up just throwing the sand on top of myself and burying my body in the sand. You know that wet, heavy sand feeling? Yeah...I need a hobby.