The surprise of a lifetime

About a month ago Grandma J thought it would be a fun idea to celebrate my mom's retirement from teaching 26 years of violin. In 1983, my mom decided that she wanted all four of her daughters to play violin. She bought two violins for Laur and I, and then bought a tiny little violin for Michelle that cost $250 (Laur has that violin, and has taught all three of her kids on it). She started teaching us, and decided to teach others. Her first students were the Kelly girls. Their mom did hair, so my mom just traded violin lessons for hair care. She taught using the Suzuki method. For the rest of my child hood I grew up listening to violin music .
As I was calling her old students, I was able to hear just how much she truly had an impact on all of their lives.
Well , with much planning, we were ready on Saturday. Laur and her family drove to St. George Friday night, and we all headed up on Saturday. We got there, and spent the day setting up and getting ready. I can't believe we kept it from my mom. Jordan was at my mom's on Saturday helping his dad work on my parent's deck, and my mom said after later that she was a little sad he didn't say anything about it being her birthday. (Good job Jo!) Well, we got it all set up, and there were probably 70+ people there ready to surprise her.
My dad took her out to eat along with Grandma and Grandpa J, and Grandma M. Grandma had told my mom earlier that she wanted to go to a concert that was being held at the City Hall.
They finished eating at 6:30, so my dad was sweating trying to think of how to stall for 30 minutes. We told him not to be there until five to 7:00. So he sat in the car for a while and slowly ate his mint he got from the restaurant, and when my mom asked why he wasn't going, he slowly put his seat belt on, and started going. To make life harder for him, we called him and told him we needed him to stall longer, and so he told mom he had to run home and get something for my brother Chris, and that did not make mom happy, she hates to be late especially when they are going somewhere with her mom. Then, I think he tried pretending he got sick from the restaurant and needed to find a restroom and literally stopped the car and started walking down the road. :) Oh dad, we love you and your efforts!!!

Well, they made it, and we were ready, and mom had no idea. It was so wonderful to surprise my mom like that. I tried so hard to add more clips of the program, but was unsuccessful. I think they were just too long. The first video is of course my mom's reaction. Then, we started the program. Dad got up and gave a few comments, and then two of mom's recent students played the violin. Then Doug (my oldest brother) got up and talked about mom telling him to practice the piano so he could palm the basketball one day. His daughter Sydnee(aside from being the best dancer/gymnast) played the piano, then Bryson(Michelle's boy) played the piano, and the second clip is of my Marcus playing. Laur's three kids; Caden(7), Matthew(4), and Sadie(2) got up and played the violin, so so so cute!!! Then Chris(my brother) got up and talked about playing the cello, and told of how he'll never forget- E 2 2 3 11 A 1 2 3 E E E. (that is one of the Suzuki violin songs we heard mom saying over and over in lessons). I told him I'd write down some stuff I wanted him to mention, but I knew he didn't need me too, he did a GREAT job, very touching and you could tell he loved his mom very much. Then Laur played a beautiful solo on her violin. Then Greg(my baby Brother) got up and gave a few comments, he did such a good job, he's got such a special relationship with my mom, he showed such gratitude towards mom, I don't think there was ANYONE who wasn't crying. Then Serena(mom's student), Lisa (mom's student), Laur(her daughter), Michelle (her daughter), Maryann(her daughter), me, Amberly(her niece), Graig(her student), and Taren(her student) all got up and played the Bach double duet. It is a graduation piece. Then, I got to introduce Serena. Serena flew from Los Angeles to be here. She is incredible! She started when she was three. Her family came to America from Korea, and my mom was a wonderful friend to Serena's mother. Serena was a natural, and graduated all of the books from Suzuki so fast. She has become a professional violinist, she has played in many, many orchestras, and her achievements are far too many to write. She has played for many movies, and is in an upcoming movie. Serena stood up and gave a very touching tribute to my mother before she played. I wish so bad the clip would have worked to upload on here, it was absolutely breathtaking. You have to pay a lot of money to hear someone like her. Her violin piece was AMAZING, and I still might keep trying to put it on here, because I don't think very many people have heard anything like it. Well, after Serena, we asked my mom to say a few words. She said, "This is Heaven". She was just taking it all in, she wanted to look at everyone, and in the middle talking she'd recognize an old student, and ask about them and what they were doing. My mom is such an inspiration, and to have a role model like her to follow is good and bad. Good, because I strive to become a daughter of God like her, and her example helps me through many of my own trials. Bad, because oh I want to be lazy sometimes, and I try to remember when I have every not seen my mom working hard, and I can't. Then her kids and spouses and their kids(all 29) sang, "Thanks for the music".

It was a perfect night, and I just want to thank all those who helped make it possible. Thanks Grandma for the idea and for getting us the perfect place to have it. Thanks to all those who helped with refreshments. Thanks to all of her students who made such an effort to be there to celebrate with us. Thanks to Laurie for spending so much time remembering the little details, and making the beautiful program. Thanks to Cam for making the dvd that was playing by the refreshments. Well to end the most perfect night, my mom drove away in a brand new SUZUKI car!!!! What a night!