Ever since she first saw Carrie Underwood perform on American Idol back in 2005, Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teacher Ms. Pizzo was instantly a fan of her music.

“I heard Carrie’s new song ‘Love Wins’ on the radio,” Maria Pizzo, Ms. Pizzo’s daughter said. “I wondered if she was coming to St. Louis, sure enough the lady on the radio said she was coming to St. Louis.”

Maria decided to surprise her mother with tickets for her birthday. The family went out to dinner together and then Maria surprised her mother with tickets at Maria’s apartment. The tickets were actually inside a Chinese food box and Ms. Pizzo thought it was cookies. It turned out to be the tickets. 

“Oh my God, are you kidding me?” Pizzo said as she threw her arms up in the air with excitement.

The moment of surprise was recorded on cellphone on Sunday, Feb. 17. The reaction was priceless. Ms. Pizzo’s son, Sal, tweeted the video of his mother reacting to receiving the tickets. He was out of town when the event happened but sent the following tweet out: 

“You won’t meet a bigger @carrieunderwood fan than my mother.”

“I was over the moon,” Pizzo said. “It felt like a dream.”

As soon as the tweet was posted, it not only spread around Liberty like wildfire, but also caught the attention of Carrie Underwood herself. 

Ms. Pizzo was at lunch on Tuesday and Mr. Schumacher said he thought the tweet would go viral. The next day at the Coaches vs. Cancer game, Ms. Pizzo first learned from Ms. McMillen that Carrie Underwood tweeted the video out.

“I love this more than you will ever know! What show is she coming to? I gotta hug her neck!” Underwood responded in a tweet on Feb. 20. As of Feb. 26, the video received 308,000 views.

Ms. Pizzo was surprised that Underwood responded.

“Are you serious?” Pizzo said. “There’s no way.”

Underwood is set to perform at the Enterprise Center (formally known as Scottrade Center) on Jun. 18.

Ms. Pizzo’s next door neighbor at Liberty is FACS teacher, Ms. McFadden, was happy that Ms. Pizzo got the tickets.

“She told me on Monday, Feb. 19 that she got the tickets,” McFadden said. “She’s most excited that she gets to with her daughters.”

Carrie Underwood appeared on Season 4 of American Idol. Underwood has gone on to win multiple awards such as seven Grammys.

“I knew she was going to make it,” Pizzo said. “She has such a great voice.”