Part 7. Christmas 2012
By the time Itsuki was twenty-one years old, he was making quite a name for himself. He studied and honed his skills under the tutelage of Yuga Wang, Dimitris Sgouros and Marc-André Hamelin, all world-renowned concert pianists. For someone so young, his talents were in demand all over the world.
Mary was married two Christmases earlier to Andrew Schmidt, a brilliant independent film director. They lived along with their one-year-old son Atticus in a small house in the North Hollywood hills. When her schedule permitted, she still served as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Marymount University. Itsuki performed at their small and intimate Christmas wedding basking in the warmth of the Los Angeles winter. Annie served as Mary’s Maid-of-Honor and he thought both of his sisters were beautiful. Unfortunately, it was not a total family event. Seth was not present as he suddenly passed away at Christmas in 2009, but his presence was definitely felt throughout the ceremony.
Annie and Steve and their five-year-old daughter Katherine-Marie moved back to Paris where Steve was a Fellow at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Itsuki performed a LIVE Christmas concert at the Catherale Notre-Dame de Paris. Mary, Annie and Itsuki still missed their beloved father very much and would often hear his voice of encouragement when they needed it the most. And where ever they were in the world and heard his favorite Christmas song, The First Noel, they lovingly thought of him and smiled.
To be continued in the epilogue