Matt Mauser is thankful for all he has, a year after his wife Christina Mauser perished in a helicopter crash with Gianna and Kobe Bryant on Jan. 26, 2020.
On the one-year anniversary of the tragic accident, the musician hosted Concert for Christina: A Musical Tribute Benefiting the Christina Mauser Foundation. With the help of a band, Matt sang some of her favorite songs, including “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers.
He also performed a song with their daughter Penny, 12, who he said nearly boarded the plane that fateful day.
Matt shared the heartbreaking story, explaining that he had booked a concert for Jan. 26 and had asked Christina if Penny could skip the basketball tournament she was scheduled to compete in to perform with him instead. He recalled telling Christina, “Well, I have a show and she’s been feeling well so I don’t want her to go because she’s going to be performing this song.”
“We never looked back,” he continued. “We don’t think about whether or not fate had a different direction for us. We just stick with what we know.”