Rachel sure loves Oprah.

But not that Oprah. She started reading when she was 3 years old, around the same time she started pulling random words out of her hat and shocking us all. One of her favorite things was opera, except that she never called it opera. She read it as Oprah. Anytime "oprah" would come on, she'd just sit there and listen to her heart's content. One morning I woke to the sound of the Queen of the Night aria coming from Rachel's room. She had turned the computer on, loaded Napster (yeah, I used it) and decided that she wanted to listen to a little Magic Flute. At 3 years of age. That's my girl.

So tonight after watching Survivor (hallelujah, the whiny baby left and Asymmetrical Boob Job Woman got voted off) I flipped the channel to Live From Lincoln Center and...

Lo!

Behold!

Madame Butterfly! Hooray!

Oh, crap, it's the last 10 minutes. I paused the T.V. and gave Rachel the skinny on the story: US guy goes to Japan, falls in love with Butterfly, Butterfly has strapping son, US guy goes back to US, Butterfly stays true to her US guy, US guy comes back with a new wife, and now he wants his son. I didn't tell Rachel the very ending. I wanted it to be a moving experience. The last time I remember watching Madame Butterfly, I wasn't actually watching it. I was watching my mom and older sisters bawling. (Mom had to point out that the stage was "that way.") Anyway, I was totally hyping up the last scene - "This is the most famous opera scene, Rachel," and "This is one of the most famous arias, Rachel." Yeah. Butterfly picks up the knife, gets ready to do the deed, and Rachel says, "She's gonna kill herself!" I told her to be quiet and watch. Butterfly's son comes running in and immediately the tears start flowing. Aaugh! One of the most beautiful, moving songs EVER! Butterfly walks her son to stage right, sits him down and puts a blindfold on him. She grabs the knife, and all of a sudden I hear, being whispered under her breath,

"Do it, do it, do it, do it."

"RACHEL!!!"

Man, I can't wait to take her to Don Giovanni next month.