When I was in the fourth grade I made the Dallas Girls’ Chorus and our spring concert was in Caruth Auditorium at SMU.  Walking around the big center fountain that night I knew it was where I wanted to attend college someday.  And I did; SMU is my Alma mater.  I thought about majoring in music but my degree is in journalism with a minor in Native American Indian history and I was one class shy of a double minor in French.  It would be over two decades later after circling that fountain in front of Dallas Hall until I would meet the man I would marry.  Despite having known him almost ten years now we had never attended a concert together.  We’d been to operas (which he mostly struggled to stay awake through) and musicals (which I think he liked better) and, while this was not a concert in the rock band sense, I still hoped he might enjoy it.  Tonight the one and only Tony Bennett performed in the same auditorium I fell in love with as a little girl.  Walking hand in hand under trees grown more beautiful with the passing of time I thought about how fitting it was that we should be there.  I felt the same love for the architecture of the campus and spring hung heavy in the night air just as it did so long ago.  At almost 90 Tony Bennett has a powerhouse voice which has only strengthened with age and has been honed like a smooth whiskey that slides down your body, giving warmth and goosebumps all at once.  He was accompanied by a four piece band:  a grand piano, guitar, double bass and drums.  At one point he sang a cappella and with no mic.  That is when his perfect pitch, commanding projection, and raw talent really shined.  He has been quoted as saying, “I’ve been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ve been sold out all over the world.”  I am so thrilled he came to Dallas.  He looked more dapper than ever with his hand casually in his pocket while he held his mic next to his crisp handkerchief and crooned “Smile”, which I did not know was a Charlie Chaplin song.  My favorites were still “Fly Me to the Moon” and his iconic “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.  He performed one hit after another effortlessly and without pause, not sitting or even sipping water for over an hour.  The stage was bathed in my favorite color dark blue and I took this picture from my seat after it was over.  Tony Bennett left it all, as he blew a kiss to the audience and then turned and simply walked away.  I went from “Rags to Riches” and once again I left my heart where I had done so all those years ago.  Only this time I was no longer a little girl, but a grown woman who got to experience the joy of introducing one love of my life to another.