Meeting "The Other Side of 615"........

Every May for the past five years  we have travelled to Blacksburg, SC for Camp LUCK Family Camp. This past May was no exception, this year we took Phil's sister Jacquie and her husband Tony with us. Each family is assigned a Camp counselor just like when you went to camp as a kid. However they did not stay in our cabin, but they did have meals with us, helped us if we had questions and just made our camp experience fun.

Our Family Camp counselor was Amanda and Madelynn just loved her instantly. At meals I did not exist, Madelynn was only interested in eating if she could sit with Amanda. It was very cute to watch her weasel her way right next to Amanda for each meal. When Sunday came Amanda had to leave before camp was over and would miss our last meal together. Madelynn was heartbroken. It was pitiful.

You see Amanda had a long ride ahead of her. She is an up and coming songwriter from Nashville and one half of the group Aberdeen Green. She was sad to depart but did not leave us empty handed. She gave us a paper bag CD with a sample of her songs she wrote/co-wrote with Carley, the other half of Aberdeen Green. Through facebook I have kept in touch with Amanda and discovered she was going on tour for the summer and part of the Fall.

Snooping through the tour schedule Aberdeen Green would be close to us near Madelynn's birthday. As luck would have it we were able to surprise Madelynn and see Aberdeen Green, Alexa, and Jessica Cayne during their "The Other Side of 615" tour. So Saturday August 9th we, along with Phil's sister and her husband, travelled to Southern Pines, NC and found Amanda and all of her tour mates. I had no idea what we were in for but they did not disappoint.

 

Aberdeen Green gave us a private concert, in honor of Madelynn. They recently completed and released their first record entitled, "The Oak Tree". They gave Madelynn a signed copy for her Birthday and sang Happy Birthday both during the private concert and when they performed live during the public show. We met Alexa and Jessica and were able to listen to them sing live as well. The whole night was pretty amazing and we could not have asked for a better evening for Madelynn. Every time I looked over at her she was grinning from ear to ear. As her mom it melted my heart to see Madelynn exuding so much joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda gave up a weekend to volunteer at Camp LUCK Family Camp, she has been on tour for about two months and stopped everything to help celebrate Madelynn's birthday and even spent two days at Camp LUCK Kid's Camp this week. I admire her for staying grounded and remembering what is important and focusing on what is real. I was truly touched how kind she and her band mate, Carley, and her tour mates, Alexa and Jessica, were. They treated us like old friends, hugged us like we were family they had been missing and treated Madelynn like a princess.

Thank you, Amanda, Carley, Alexa and Jessica,  from the bottom of our hearts for making Madelynn's birthday a night she will not soon forget; even if she did fall asleep before the whole night was over (LOL!).

TTFN~