Music Fest was last weekend and boy did we ever have a fantastic time. Great music, excellent food and most importantly, lots of friends and family to share this amazing time with.
When we arrived on Friday evening, we quickly set up our tent and unpacked. Maya then insisted on going to meet the “people who are making my wish come true.” So Robbie took her to go meet some of the volunteers, including Chrissie and Peter. She obviously understood the importance of what all these people were doing for her because she took to them right away. It wasn’t long and she was giving hugs to everyone and initiating games of tag with Peter. That’s pretty much how the rest of the weekend went. Maya had a smile plastered on her face the entire time, visiting the petting zoo, jumping on the inflatables and showing her moves on the dance floor as various bands shared their incredible talents. Ella also kept herself very busy going from one activity to another with different aunts, uncles and cousins. We hardly saw our kids all weekend!
Robbie and I were struck by just how many volunteers work before, during and after Music Fest to make the event run seamlessly. We did our best to thank as many of them personally as we could, but thanking them all was an impossible task. Some volunteers we spoke to have been volunteering for 10-15 years and speak about Music Fest and the Children’s Wish Foundation with so much enthusiasm, it blew us away.
Maya was given a great honor on Saturday: there was a man there who had been growing his moustache for about 5 years. He had braided it and it hung down the sides of his mouth. A few months ago, he began collecting money for the Children’s Wish Foundation to cut it off and managed to collect about 500$. After he met Maya, he asked her if she would be willing to cut one of them off for him. She took her time and it took 4 cuts to cut it completely off. Maya was thrilled!
Sunday was more of an emotional day as we prepared for the Wish presentation. Maya was given many heart-warming gifts of love: a comfy blanket with her name on it, a Children’s Wish Foundation lion stuffed animal, a beautiful lantern-type night light with the word Wish cut out to let the light shine through and a gorgeous painting of a candle shining brightly painted by Chrissie and Peter’s daughter, Amber.
During the presentation, we were able to hear Jackson’s story, the other wish child being sponsored and meet their family. His brothers and sisters spoke with lots of love and emotion and we saw just how important their little brother is to them. Marcia, his mom, gave a beautiful speech that shared the same message of love and light as our speech. They are an amazing family and we wish them lots of love and happiness.
More donations were presented and we were overwhelmed once again by people’s generosity. There were even two young girls who put their own money aside for the cause, saving over 150$!
The presentation ended with a slideshow prepared lovingly by one of the volunteers that showcased Maya and Jackson and allowed the crowd to get to know them and their families a little bit better. It was a great way to end the presentation.
It was a great weekend, one that we will not soon forget. Maya’s smile showed everyone what a wonderful time she had. She said something as the end of the weekend that summed it up well: “I felt very special this weekend!” What more can parents ask for?
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