In Part 1, you heard about the unexpected opportunity my friend Ruth and I had to see Sandi Patty at Carnegie Hall in New York. Even though we bought the tickets about 2 weeks before the concert, they were General Admission, so we weren’t necessarily stuck with a seat at the very top of the hall. We were already feeling blessed just to attend the concert.
And then this happened.
We had a fantastic day in the city. We poked around Grand Central, checked out the market (one of my favorite places), Ruth got some kind of concoction at Grumpy’s Coffee, we walked through more than half of Central Park, ate great food, stopped in a few stores, saw a dinosaur made of leather bags at the Coach store. Amazing.
(c) Ruth Hartunian-Alumbaugh
We had such a great time. The sights, sounds, aromas, and tastes were exactly what I love about New York.
Now it was getting close to concert time. The doors opened at 7:30, and we wanted to be there to get a good seat. We didn’t know if a line might form ahead of time, but decided to take our chances on that one.
But we still needed to eat dinner. We found a little place that looked promising called Robert. It was in the Museum of Arts and Design. We figured we could get salads an appetizers to get in and out quickly enough to get to the theater on time. And it was only a few blocks away.
The place was great! On the 9th floor overlooking Columbus Circle, so we had a bit of a view of Central Park. The décor was modern and interesting. The servers friendly. And the food was delicious and interesting. We had a great time.
(c) Kathleen Thompson
The only problem? We didn’t get out of there until 7:30, and it took 15 minutes to walk to the theater. It wasn’t quite as close as I thought. Now we’re thinking all the good seats are taken and we’ll be in the third balcony after all.
We go through the bag search, hand our tickets in, and start up the stairs toward the theater. And I just happen to hear an usher say to someone else, “I think there are still seats in the front.”
Are you kidding? I was just going to go straight to the top floor. Instead, I say to Ruth, “Let’s see if there are any seats in the front.” And sure enough, almost the entire front row was empty.
We chose seats on the left side on the aisle so we wouldn’t be right in front of a monitor speaker. An unexpected blessing. We had an amazing view of Sandi, her back-up singers, the pianist (which Ruth loved), and the choir. And not only that, we really felt like we were part of the action. It felt so intimate. As if they were singing to us.
(c) Kathleen Thompson
The concert was spectacular. The musicianship, harmonies, all our favorite songs. We sang along to almost all of them.
And then there was another blessing. A woman sat next to us whose friend was in the choir. We had a great conversation with her before the concert and during intermission. We waved to her friend so she’d know she had a fan club in the front row.
The whole night was amazing.
It was an unexpected opportunity to go to the concert at all. And then on top of that were unexpected blessings. Finding raspberries in Central Park. The restaurant (where we didn’t have a reservation), unbelievable seats (even though we were late getting to the theater), and a warm and friendly person sitting next to us.
We almost floated back to the hotel. So grateful for this day. This opportunity. These blessings. And I realized this: the best blessings are those you don’t expect.
Has that ever happened to you? Blessings showed up when you weren’t expecting them? And they were ever so sweet because they were a surprise? Share your story in the comments.
P.S., Watch for Part 3 on Thursday.
