Saturday was the Highland Fling, which is our big city celebration. We went to the breakfast, events in the park, watched the parade, the kids entered the art show, and we attended the big concert and fireworks in the park. It’s our favorite fireworks show, and such a fun time here in Highland.
At the pancake breakfast, we sat at an empty space at one of the tables; next to two little Asian women. One of them reached out her hand to Ryan and said, “I’m new in town. My name’s Mary Kawakami.” Ryan’s jaw must have dropped, I’m sure.
Flashback 15 or so years to when we were engaged or newly married, and there was a beauty school in Provo right on Center Street. It was called the Mary Kawakami College of Beauty. I had a friend, Lisa, who went to school there. She was in my carpool for the Mormon Youth Choir. So sometimes we would even pick her up there. I think I even went there to have my hair cut once. But Ryan always laughed at the name. He would say it jokingly, “Mary Kawakami College of Beauty? Do you go to the Mary kawakami College of Beauty?” Just because it was such a long and unusual name.
So, yesterday, when he actually MET Mary Kawakami–THE Mary Kawakami, it was quite an event. When I sat down after saying hello to a friend, he introduced me. “Paige, this is Mary Kawakami.” “Of the school of beuty?” I asked. “The only one. She had to close the school,” he told me, as if he was in the know, now that he and Mary were good friends. It was nice to meet her and talk a bit, and tell her about the fun things going on that day. After she left, we joked about it and I teased him that he was no longer able to make fun of that school name, and really, what are the odds of meeting her at the Highland Fling breakfast.
Have I totally bored you, yet? Because there’s more. The concert main event was Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. Cole is arguably their biggest fan. The only two CDs he has are of Ryan Shupe, and that’s the music that is filling his MP3 player. He even emails them jokes from time to time. He’s a bit of a stalker. We were worried that he wouldn’t be back from his scout camp-out in time to go to the concert, but he was home in time. He loved it and was singing along to all the songs (well, we all were). When they did “Oh how I miss you” and asked for people who really knew the “Ba-ba-ba” part to come up on the stage and sing, Cole was all over it. He went up and stood right next to Craig Minor (the banjo player) on the stage!
After the concert, we bought another CD and he stood in line to get it autographed, and he got to meet the band and get all of their autographs. What a thrill!
I have my own chance to meet my favorite…Donny Osmond. I’m trying to win “Donny’s biggest fan” for concert tickets and the opportunity to meet Donny himself. I won’t go on about my love for Donny, but I will ask you to help me. If you wouldn’t mind going to this website, and clicking on the “vote” section. I am contestant number 4 (you can see my picture on the other side, if you want. I think each vote has to come from a separate email address, so I can’t just vote over and over for myself. So, if you could tell your friends, your husbands, your kids, your dogs, your bloggy buddies, anyone with an email address, to vote for me, I would REALLY appreciate it. I’ve dreamed of meeting Donny for a long time, (ever since I cut my head open on the fireplace hearth running downstairs to see the Donny and Marie show) and this would be the greatest! (I mean, if Ryan can meet Mary Kawakami and Cole can meet Ryan Shupe, I really should have a chance to meet Donny, don’t you think?)
Not to brag to Cole or anything but Ryan Shupe is an old friend of mine. I wrote to him his entire mission and even went on a date with him once (it started out in the Emergency Room where I found out he was EXTREEMELY terrified of blood and ended up at Hogle Zoo with me heavily medicated–long story I will tell you sometime). I was also invited to his wedding in Teluride, Colorado. That said, I just want Cole to know that Ryan is really is a cool guy that honestly came by his fame and doesn’t let it go to his head. He is still the same old fun guy from Ogden Utah that loves to play anything that makes noise and is so much fun to be with. Sometime when you go to a concert to see Ryan, I will come along and personally introduce Cole to Ryan.
Ok, I voted for your Donny meeting – but I have to tell you that contestant 8 is pretty creepy. I mean, she said that she named her child “Dawnmarie” after Donny and Marie and even has a license plate that says “DonnyO”. It’s great to be a fan, but that gal needs to get a life!
they were cool
I must add, Mary Kawakami was *extremely* polite and gracious, everything you would expect from someone who had their own College of Beauty.
By the way, apparently Mary Kawakami rocks! I had no idea…
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/oct/20/after_decades_of/
… She stands in the way of a bulldozer on her property!
… She’s received a lifetime achievement award from the Provo Chamber of Commerce!
… She sponsored a patriotic speech competition about veterans.
Paige tells me I now need to stop obsessing about this very nice lady.
🙂
Ryan
Wow! What a cool lady…Thanks for the inspiring info.
COOL NEW LOOK – I like the colors and beautiful daisy. It totally looks like you – very fresh and fun.
I have vague memories of a very bad perm at a beauty school in Provo.
My grandma is Mary Kawakami. I was just searching her name and your blog came up. Funny huh?
I went to Mary’s in 1988-89….I’ve only found ONE person from when I was there…it’s kinda sad, really…
I was also doing a search for Mary, and came upon your blog. I went to Mary Kawakami in 1985-86. Mary was a wonderful teacher and example. I love that lady.