Rachel gets to conduct the Oregon Symphony!

Yes, you read right. Tonight was an extraordinary evening. But first, some background:

I had an extra chorus rehearsal today -- a day that Portland smashed the old 100 degree heat record. (It was 102 at one point this afternoon). It's great to be at the level we are, where we're not working the basics over and over and over again but are working on really nit-picky things. That's the downside, of course -- the nit-picky things pile up and it gets to be a pain in the a-- to torture every note and phrase to death. But we're gunning for a top 5 finish in international competition in Denver this fall, so...every nit-picky thing counts.

I got done around 4:30, then met Rachel and Drew at the outdoor pool at Grant Park where they apparently had a ball (and Rachel made a new little friend, Rose, who had the same type of water wings Rachel has). Noting that the temperatures are expected to stay in the 80s the next few days, Drew bought a family pass for us to the pool, which is great because it will allow Rachel and I to hang out there when Drew is in Seattle -- free swim is from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weeknights, so I figure we can race home from school, eat dinner and then head to the pool from there -- it's within walking distance from our house -- and I can swim early morning laps while the Willamette pool is closed until school starts.

Then we headed for a concert in Laurelhurst Park, where we've held Rachel's birthday celebration the past two years. The Oregon Festival Symphony performs free summer concerts on weekends at all the Portland Parks (Grant Park will be next Sunday, and I've already promised Drew a summer picnic of homemade fried chicken, popovers and a berry tart -- yum!!) and we go every year. Tonight we headed to Laurelhurst with just a picnic blanket and some water; we figured we'd get dinner and ice cream afterwards.

We spent most of the evening relaxing on the blanket while Rachel amused herself by draping herself over us, finding a group of kids to play with, and eating a hot dog. After a while she kept interrupting me while I was trying to read a New Yorker story, so Drew urged her to head to the area where the symphony was playing, since he saw a bunch of little girls running back and forth there and he figured she'd want to join them.

Well, she did, and all of a sudden he said, uh...Lisa! He's handing the baton to Rachel! LOOK!!!

Indeed it was true: Conductor Lajos Balogh HANDED THE BATON TO RACHEL AND SHE CONDUCTED A FEW BARS OF MUSIC!!! It was extraordinary. She really seemed confident, like she knew what she was doing. I raced down the hill with my smartphone to get a photo but unfortunately I was too late. A mother standing nearby said her daughter was right behind Rachel, "and I got all verklempt!" watching Rachel conduct. So did I.

As soon as she was done, Rachel raced up to me. I scooped her up in my arms and said, "I'm so PROUD of you!" and later thanked the conductor for giving her the baton. Then we ran into my friend Miriam, who said she thought she recognized Rachel but then dismissed that idea because "all 4-year-old girls look the same!' (She has a grown daughter). She was so surprised to see Rachel conduct, but was very impressed.

Turns out Miriam is sort of dating one of the violinist in the symphony, who is the son of a fellow board member of the Oregon Are Jewish Committee, who happened to be there tonight and we had a nice chat. Yes, Portland is one big small town.

Then we went to an unexpectedly good burger place near our house for dinner and to Baskin Robbins for dessert, and met a couple there who asked about Drew's t-shirt from Minnesota. Turns out the guy grew up in Hopkins, MN, right outside the Twin Cities and we got into a long conversation about Minnesota. I talked to the mom about Jesuit High (she's thinking of sending her daughter there) and how impressed that I, as an interviewer for the Northwestern University Alumni Association, have always been by Jesuit grads. We would have talked longer but it was time to get Rachel home for bed. And did I say that I had Oreo cookie chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles, which was DELISH!

Can't top many days like this one.