The 5 Browns--Starstruck tween

One-on-one time with each child is often challenging to achieve, but so worth the effort.

For a weekend event, the 5 Browns, siblings who all play grand pianos simultaneously, performed 2 pieces on 5 Grand Steinways at Schmidt Music. I attended the concert with my third son.

We got to meet the quintet. My special needs son shared with, Ryan, the oldest, that he struggles with tourette's and he still plays the piano and loves it. He also conversed with Desirae, the youngest Julliard graduate, who has lost her sight in one eye and is learning to live with this disibility. Desirae continues to excel at playing and memorizing very challenging music. Both siblings seemed to be very engaging towards my son and that impressed me.




My son was so honored to meet such amazing musicians and members of our faith! We expressed our amazement at this young girl's strength through her disibility.

Sunday night we attended a special presentation and heard each of the musicians perform a solo piece as well as share inspiring stories of how they developed their talents at Juilliard.

Desirae, the last presenter, began her talk sharing the story of my son and I meeting her and how this young musician impressed her with his fortitude for music despite his weakness. Unbeknownst to her, we were sitting on the third row.  His eyes and ears radiated the joy he felt while she shared the experience. She talked about disabilities and how everyone struggles with some weakness or challenge. Relying on the Lord for strength and faith can "make weak things strong." 

What a powerful experience of enduring trials and learning and growing from them. I am so thankful he was acknowledged in front of the 500 people in attendance. It was certainly a "STARSTRUCK" moment for him!