Single Mom Screams in Surprise at VIP Ticket From Kids to See Keith Urban
After years of scraping to provide for kids, Betty Mate was "floating on air."
— -- A New York woman who raised her two children as a single mom got the surprise of her life when her kids splurged on a VIP ticket so she could meet her favorite musician, Keith Urban.
Video of Betty Mate, 69, opening the birthday gift from her son, Jonathan, and daughter, Monique, shows the Rochester, New York, woman screaming and crying in disbelief at the surprise.
Mate, who works two jobs to provide for her family, received the $500 VIP ticket to an Urban concert near Rochester as a gift from her kids.
“This was a big splurge but we decided it was worth doing for her,” Jonathan Mate, 31, told ABC News. “She has been a die-hard fan for a bunch of years now and it’s just kind of escalated and escalated.”
A family friend videotaped Mate opening the gift because the family expected she would have a "big reaction." Jonathan said he was also so excited to give his mom the gift he could not wait for his sister, who had to work.
“No money could pay for the reaction,” he said about the video. “I would have sold everything I own and live under a bridge to see that one more time.”
Jonathan said he saw an even bigger reaction from his mom when they went to Urban’s concert together in June. Mate got a photo with the “American Idol” judge and stood close to Urban as he played an acoustic concert for the VIP fans.
“I can’t say that I’ve ever seen her so happy,” Jonathan said. His mom brought Urban a t-shirt from a local guitar store and a happy anniversary card for Urban and his wife, Nicole Kidman.
“To say she he came out floating on air would be an understatement,” he said. “She also came out hungry because in the week prior to the concert there was barely an appetite and little sleeping because the excitement was too much for her.”
Mate is reliving her experience all over now because the video of her reaction went viral after it was posted on Facebook Sunday by LoveWhatMatters.
“She has definitely not come down from it and especially with all the attention now in the last few days, she’s enjoying her 15 minutes,” Jonathan said. “It’s exciting for her.”