MANKATO — For one Mankato resident, the chance to reconnect with a lifelong idol is just days away.
Randi Lines, 66, grew up loving music from her earliest memories. When she was around 9 or 10, Lines picked up a guitar for the first time and began playing. That led to a life full of singing and music.
“When I was 17, I started playing in a band and singing.”
That band, Blue Thunder, is what Lines would do for the next 30 years or so. And all the while she had one musical idol that stood out above the rest: Wynonna Judd.
“When I was 13, I started hearing her and her mom’s music at the time. She played guitar and I started listening to it and just fell in love.
Ever since then I’ve kept playing and kept listening.”
Lines said she was drawn to Judd’s music partially to their similarity in age, with Judd being five years younger than Lines.
“I remember being a kid and playing guitar and teaching my brother to sing so he could harmonize with me.
That was inspired by her and her mom.”
After 30 years of music, Lines needed to retire, citing issues with her back.
Since then she’s been on disability, but has never let her love of Judd’s music fade.
She’s met the singer twice, once about 30 years ago backstage after a concert of hers and the other time while the two were in Florida.
“The time I saw her in Florida I was with my granddaughter and she stayed on the bus playing guitar with her for like an hour,” Lines said. “I got to talk to her for a little bit.”
Now, 23 years after that Florida meeting, Judd is coming to Mankato’s Vetter Stone Amphitheater on Saturday; and Line’s will be in attendance thanks to AARP’s Wish of a Lifetime program.
“Wish of a Lifetime sparks hope and joy in older adults through granting wishes. Since 2008 we’ve granted around 3,000 wishes,” said Jared Bloomfield, the director of field operations for Wish of a Lifetime.
Bloomfield said that people send in applications for wishes, and then Wish of a Lifetime evaluates the applications and accepts all the ones that fit the criteria they have.
He says Lines’ wish fits the criteria perfectly.
“It encapsulates what Wish of a Lifetime does best, which is finding what older adults are passionate about and celebrating that,” Bloomfield said.
The program gives those adults a chance to do something they may not otherwise be able to afford and a chance to go out and enjoy life for a little while. The benefit of that experience isn’t lost on Lines.
“It’s important because a lot of times people can’t afford it. It gives me the chance to go and do something that I don’t normally get to do,” Lines said. “It means the world to me.”
“We work with older adults where this experience is one of the most substantial parts of their week, their year or maybe their lifespan,” Bloomfield said.
“Another important piece Randi mentioned is isolation. A lot of older adults spend a lot of time at home. We get to spread hope and joy through wishes, which is a special and unique service. We’re very proud.”
Wish of a Lifetime and AARP work with everyone — local organizations, the community, family members — to get these dreams to come true. For many, Line’s included, it will be a moment that they won’t soon forget, or take for granted.
“It makes me happy. I feel so excited,” she said. “It makes me feel important.”