“Life is long. Enjoy it.”
Last Monday on the day of the celebration of Cinco de Mayo, our very close friend, Arkady Fomin died. He lived in Dallas, played violin for the Dallas Symphony for many years, and organized a summer festival in Durango and was awarded a special medal of honor from the Latvian government (the country where we were both born) for his contribution to the music world. He played with the orchestra all over the world, was a member of a quartet which played at Carnegie Music Hall in New York, had many students, and together with Sophie—his wife of 47 years, he enjoyed life immensely. We were very good friends for almost 50 years. Since we liked to exchange jokes, he would often phone us after his concerts at midnight (his time), and without even saying hello, he would share a joke that someone in the orchestra had just told him. To honor Arkady’s memory, I want to share with you some of the jokes—which we call anecdotes:
The old revered Rabbi was dying. All of his disciples gathered around his bed standing in line in the order of importance. Suddenly, the guy at the end of the line requested to ask the teacher about the meaning of life, before his last breath. This request was passed from one disciple to the other until the question reached the Rabbi. He opened his eyes and with great effort and said, “Life is like a river”. The Rabbi’s reply was passed back, until it reached the guy who asked the question. “But what does it mean that life is like a river?” He questioned again. When this question reached the Rabbi, with his last effort he responded, “Well, then it is not like a river.”
When I think about Arkady, a smile comes to my face. (Not only because I remember his jokes.) Besides other accomplishments, he knew how to enjoy life; be it travels (they often came to San Francisco and we would go together to the Sea Ranch), food, or good cigars. I can picture his face in my mind, while enjoying a meal, or having a cognac after dinner, with his eyes closed in delight.
Arkady really enjoyed life and this brings to mind another joke:
The pious Catholic priest died and was greeted in Heaven by St. Peter himself. “To honor your devotion to God, we will extend to you a special honor”, he was told. “You can read from the Old Testament scroll, written by Moses’ hand.” They sat him in a beautiful room—the walls were covered with old books. Suddenly, while reading he started to yell, “Oh no! Oh no!” Everyone rushed in and asked “What happened?” He replied, “It is written here thatwe have to celebrate…not be CELIBATE!”
Please do not wait until your friends are gone—celebrate life together.
P.S.
Arkady celebrated life in many ways. One of them was to smoke cigars. Cuba is known for its cigars, so I’ve captured some photos of beautiful ladies enjoying the pleasure of fine cigars. You can find more images in Soy Cubano available here for purchase.
A short film about my friend, Arkady Fomin from Quin Mathews Films on Vimeo.
DO NOT KEEP ME AS A SECRET.
SMILE AND PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND