One Winner at a Time!



Happy Mother's Day!   Erik woke up and while he was busy getting ready, he looked at me and stopped what he was doing for a second and wished me a great day. Little did I know that this mother's day would be very special in many ways. 

Around this time of May of 2003, I was finishing my last Chemotherapy of Adriamycin and Cytoxin. Long year of treatment with Chemo, Radiation, Surgery and More Chemo was finally coming to an end. I remember frantically thinking that I needed energy to plan a small birthday party for Erik, which was coming up quickly,,,on May 27th.  The complex thoughts of the year drove me to pray, so I can remain well until at least he turns 15. Don't ask why I picked that age of 15...Erik turns 15 on May 27th this month.  I am in awe of the blessing of life. Very grateful to have seen him grow up the last 10 yrs. He is almost my height or just barely passed me up, which is also amazing remembering back how he was always the smallest in the class. 

With the memory of it, I am simply overwhelmed with the goodness of my dear friends who supported me throughout that year, and also later in various capacities I began to walk out side in the real world again. It was a bit scary and I know I have come a long way. 

This year, Erik entered the Young Artist's Competition hosted by the Red River Radio in Shreveport, LA, which draws students from regions in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.  He was chosen as one of the final winners to perform at the winners' recital. The event is designed to provide an exciting opportunity for the area students to compete to perform for a program aired on radio and to have the performance recorded professionally for each to keep. Erik was selected to be among the 7 winners and he performed at the University Center on the LSU campus, Shreveport on mother's day. The winners' recital was a precious event with a wide range of musical abilities represented, from classical guitar, violin, piano to a Italian classic or broadway vocal. 

Erik performed Un Sospiro by Liszt and Black Key Etude by Chopin. He was a bit awkward with the spontaneous responses he tried to give to questions asked by the Radio Show Host immediately prior to the performance (with his usual speech issues a bit),,, but most people probably just thought that he was stumbling because of his nerves. He did great as far as the performance,,totally obscured the un smooth speech by the beautifully flowing melodies.  And he looked smashing to his mom and dad. Bow tie made him look so grown up and quite charming. 

His performance was quite artistically musical,,we enjoyed it very much. He seemed confident and proud, and also I could tell that he was enjoying the experience very much.  We hope you enjoy the video recording.. When the program airs, we will link it here.  For the part of Erik's conversation with the radio host,  I will save it for the time the program airs. The host asked him what interested him in the piano,,, and the answer quite surprised us and made us all chuckle. 

The event gave me an opportunity to reflect. Grateful, simply grateful. 

I will always remember this special mother's day event and how the performer brought their best to the stage,,what a gift to have a professionally recorded event to cherish for many yrs to come remembering back the students' proud smile and their performance,,,,,,,,, 
one winner at a time.....




Handsome, Beautiful, Elegant, Cute, Gorgeous and very talented!



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