One off the bucket list

Nick has had a passion for classical music-- piano music in particular--for many years. I remember him listening to it in the first months after we met. When we would chat online, our chat program would also reveal what music the other person is listening to. When he wasn't listening to Lil Wayne or watching silly youtube videos, he was usually playing "Whisperings Piano Radio" from itunes. I knew he was trying to do homework or write a paper when Whisperings was playing.
When I was a kid, from maybe 4th to 6th grade-ish, I used to play classical guitar music or Yanni's piano music at night to fall asleep. At some point in the first few months of meeting Nick, I asked him if he ever listens to Yanni when he plays his piano music. I was surprised to learn that Nick didn't know who Yanni was! So I gave him the same Yanni CD that I had as a kid and, really, the rest is history.
In the last three years, Nick has developed a special relationship with Yanni--actually just that one CD in particular. And a few recent songs from "Yanni Voices." He set his morning alarms to Yanni, played him in the car, on his headphones, etc. Nick can name all of his most popular songs, knows quite a bit of Yanni trivia, and could tell you which song Yanni wrote for his mother--and plays at each concert. I have fond memories of listening to Yanni as a kid, so I guess you could say the man has a special place in my heart, too. :)
Anyway, about a month ago I was reading the news online and discovered that Yanni was in the middle of a tour across the states. Just for kicks, I looked to see if he was playing in Portland--and, low and behold, he was playing in only a couple weeks! Most importantly, the tickets were affordable! How could I not take advantage of such opportunity--only 10 days away from our anniversary--and surprise Nick?

FYI, I am SO bad at keeping secrets like this. You can trust me to stay quiet with important and serious matters, but with big surprises I am so squirmy! Somehow I managed to keep quiet about it-- except for sharing it with Nick's parents and my family. I had to share with someone (er, several people) or I probably would have burst.
I had told Nick to keep the evening of May 4th open, but I gave him no other details. We just hopped in the car after he got home from work and headed downtown. I was afraid that he'd see signs for the show before we arrived, so I pulled over when we got close and handed him my card...

I think he was surprised, no?! I have watched this video several times since then and it never gets old. It makes me so happy. :)
(Also, if you listen closely, you can hear piano music in the background. At this point Nick had no clue where we were going, but he ironically decided to play classical piano music for the mystery drive!) 

Yanni did not disappoint! He is a very humble man and (of course) an incredible artist. The whole show was beyond inspiring and beautiful.
I'm sure you'll get to read Nick's perspective on the Yanni experience pretty soon. We were both thrilled to be in the man's presence and hear his music live!