Me and Mandisa's Friendship Options

[tylerman3009]

Ok this is a long story so I would be ready to read.

From the moment Mandisa auditioned she became my instant favorite. I felt like throughout AI I really got to know her. She was my inspiration to start singing again because I had given it up completely and she was and still is my heroin. When she was eliminated I was an emotional wreck. The day after I did research on the internet and found her address. I wrote her a letter and waited weeks for a response. I finally started thinking I wasn't going to get anything back from her. Then one day I stepped off the school bus and my father's truck was sittting in our driveway. My mom works out of our house but I thought, "Wow Dad shouldn't be home for a few more hours." Then when I stepped in the house my dad was standing there with a letter in his hands. The letter was from Mandisa. I opened it and she told me about her time on American Idol and even offered to get me a bible if I didn't have one. I sent her another letter stating that I didn't have a bible and would really love one and that I will be attending a AI Tour concert on July 21st. Once again I waited and thought, "Well mabey she won't be home again until after the tour." Then two days after I got out of school for the summer I was sitting in my room and my mom called from the bottom of the stairs, "Tyler come down here." I came downstairs and there my father stood once again but this time he was holding a large box. I looked at the top and it had my address but in the upper corner it had Mandisa's. I immediately opened it and at the top was a letter. Before looking at anything else in it I read the letter. She talked about how the package contained a bible like she promised, the "Chronicles of Narnia" DVD because it had Christian symbolism and is one of her favorite movies, and that it contained a CD that she finished the night before she auditioned for AI. She said she doesn't think she'll be releasing it because she will be recording another album (which she stated in the interview with Elliot Yamin on AI.com that it will be a Gospel album). I was thrilled to get these things especially an album she said she was just handing out to some people and that it was a package of stuff she said she was only sending to me. It was an honor. Then she said she was putting my name on a "Call Waiting" list at the arena I'm attending the AI concert at. She said when I get there all I have to do is tell them my name and they will let me backstage. I was so honored to get all this from her. Yet the part that meant the most to me besides the bible was when she said, "I beleive God is persuing a relationship between us." It was such a great feeling. I have written my next letter but I am going to wait to give it to her when I see her at the concert.

Now you know how our firendship got started, and now I must tell you about when we finally met.

We got to the arena and I went to will call like Mandisa told me to and the guy there told me to go to another lady who had the list. I went to her and my name wasn't on it. Then I explained to her about the letters to Mandisa and how Mandisa told me my name would be on the list and she believed me and called a guy on her radio and he told Mandisa my name and asked her if it was all right and she said yes. There was a total of 6 people in our group (me, my mom, my dad, my cousin and her husband and son). The lady would only give me three passes so I gave them to my mom and dad but my dad was curtious and gave his to my cousin Ben (my cousin's son) who is 12. Anyway that doesn't really matter lol. So me, my mom, and Ben get into the meet n' greet room and there was a long table and the order of the Idols at the table was Chris, Bucky, Kellie, Ace, Paris, Lisa, MANDISA, Elliott, and last Taylor. Me, my mom, and Ben decided we would go to the end of the line so we had more time to talk to the Idols and weren't holding people up. So I was at Kellie (three people down from Mandisa) and all of the sudden Mandisa stands up and yells, "Tyler is that you?" (and if your wondering how she recognized me its because I sent her a picture). So I make my way down to her and the security people told us we weren't aloud to touch the Idols cause they didn't want germs spreading to them and Mandisa goes, "Give me a hug" and I'm like, "I'm not aloud to" and she goes, "Oh forget them I don't care!" I got my hug and I gave her another letter from me and comments from her fans and when I gave her the comments and told her that they were from her fans at AI.com Lisa was like, "Awww thats sweet." So then Mandisa was like, "Don't worry it will be easier for me to hug you in the after show when there is no table in the way" and I was like, "After show?" and shes like, "Yeah didn't the lady with the will call list give you your four after show passes (don't ask me how she figured the number four she must have guessed)?" and I was like, "No my name wasn't even on the list" and then she got kinda mad that they didn't give them to me and was like, "Thats not right" and then turned around to the guy behind her and made him fill out four after show passes and I was like, "Actually theres six of us" and shes like, "Then six passes it is." Then she asked me if I got all the presents and stuff and my mom was telling her about how the day I got them she was in tears becasue I was so happy and Mandisa was just like, "Awwwwww!" Then I almost left without the after show passes and she called me back and handed them to me and I'm like, "I love you Mandisa" and Lisa was like "Awwwwww" and then Mandisa was like, "I love you too." She is such a sweet heart. Then as we all know she starts the show and she sang "I'm Every Woman" and then "If I Was Your Women" and dedicated it to Ruben. You all know how her and Ace sing "I'm You Angel"? Well before she started that song she goes in front of thousands of people, "I would like to dedicate this song to a good friend of mine, Tyler!". I started crying lol and of course my mom started screaming so all these people started looking at me. Then in the after show when she saw me she ran up to me and goes, "Hey man! Come here and give me a real hug!" and I was like, "You didn't have to dedicate that to me" and she was like "Yes I did Tyler! I had it planned all along!" and I was like "Thank you so much you did and awesome job out there!" and shes was like, "Thanks!" and gave me another hug. Then in my program she signed it, "God bless you Tyler! You are here for a very special purpose! I knew it from the beginning. Psalm 139. (then her signature of course)." She is so sweet. I then went around and got all the other Idols to sign my program and was gonna come back and talk to her more but she left early. I think she may have gone out to sign autographs by the buses. I got a picture of me and her but they would only let us have disposable or digital cameras and I accidently bought a disposable camera without a flash so none of them came out very well . Their very hard to see. Anyway Mandisa is just a gift from God and everyone in my family was saying its wierd cause me and her are on like the same wavelength. They say we fit together perfectly. Shes so sweet I love her!

There is my story. I hope you all enjoyed it. I will be seeing her again Sunday when I go to another concert and I can't wait! This time I'm going to remember her presents.

[jsr111092]

ohh tyler good luck today! I hope you can meet her!

[idolfreak05]

aw! congrats Tyler... yeah when I met her at my M&G I was seriously the only one with a Mandisa shirt on and she was like "Hey that's me!" and points to my shirt! I seriously was probably the only one in the entire venue cause alot of people had Chris, Ace, Bucky, and Taylor shirts that I saw. She is really so sweet... at the M&G I think I told her that I was her favorite and that me and my friend waited 9 hours before showtime (we really did by the way!) to meet them... She called me sweetie at least twice and when I asked her "Are you allowed to give me a hug"?.. cause you really weren't allowed to, but she did , she got up from the table and I was like "OMG! she's getting up from the table!" She signed my 8 x 10" photo and signed "God Bless you Katie " Mandisa.... I've very surprised I didn't cry cause I seriously thought I would because me and my friend originally didn't even have M&G passes to begin with and a local DJ saw our sign and that's how we got in...and like balled then. She was seriously the first person that flashed through my mind when I was hugging my friend and crying knowing that she was up there and I was about to meet her. She is such a sweetheart I gave her a letter too, screamed when I saw her come off the busses, waved to me at the busses, and was probably the loudest Mandisiac there!

I even had a sign that said ChrAcey 4 Mandisa... but forgot to bring it when I saw the busses or to the M&G I was too excited! I still have it though!

This post has been edited by idolfreak05: Sep 16th 2006, 10:25 PM

[Rubenlover205]

WOW that's one heck of a story!!! Thanks for sharing.

[Mått]

That was a story that made me feel good! I'm glad you got to meet her

[tylerman3009]

I met her again last Sunday! I have been meaning to post this but kept forgetting.

Well I got there and I didn't know Mandisa knew I was going to be there. Ace was by the busses signing autographs so I managed my way to the front of the group and asked him to let Mandisa know Tyler Graves is here and she'll know who your talking about and Ace, being the great guy he is, had someone call back right away. So me, my mom, my dad, and my best friend Cortney went into the lobby and waited for the meet n' greet and there was another woman in there with her son and my mom was telling her about the letter to Mandisa and the presents she sent me and everything she did for me in the last concert. The woman said Mandisa had just walked through there with Bucky and Chris to go to media and Bucky had just walked back through from media so Mandisa should be coming back too. Chris came back through and then about five minutes later a lady from New York's biggest news station came out and told us that Mandisa was just wrapping up and asked if me and Cortney would do an interview. The lady was getting set up when Mandisa came walking through. She saw me and goes "What are you doing here?" and quickly ran over and the first thing she did was open her arms for a hug. I gave her a big hug and she goes, "I just sent you a message on myspace. I knew you were coming. I left you four after show passes." I then gave her my bag of presents and then I go, "Mandisa I figured since I couldn't bring you Ruben, I would bring you the next best thing" and I handed her a Ruben Studdard Velver teddybear. She let out this blood curdlying scream and hugged the bear really tightly to her chest and started laughing. She goes, "I love it, its so cute." She gave me another big hug and took a picture with me. She then says, "You are the sweetest boy in the world." She then said goodbye and that she would see me after the show.

I had made Mandisa a t-shirt that said I The Fandisas and she wore the shirt during the finale and I had put glitter of it and it shined so perfectly in the light. It looked great on her. During the after show she gave me another hug and goes "I love that shirt" and some lady that works with pop tarts goes, "Disa is he the one who made the shirt?" and she told her yes and she was like, "Awww thats so cute."

Since like last Monday I have been talking to a guy on Mandisa's managment team that runs her myspace and he said at last Tuesday's concert he mentioned me to her and I asked her about it and she was like, "Yeah he did and I knew exactly who you were. I couldn't forget my Ty." Then she said she would checkout the fansite I made and that she loved all her presents and I told her I loved her and she said the same. I had forgotten a few things I wanted to talk to her about and when I went to do so she was walking out of the room so I missed out again lol. Oh well she has all my contact information so I'm sure we'll stay in touch.

So thats pretty much it. It was all alot longer then that and there was alot more to it but I cut it all down.

[zealandDream]

Oh my word that is so touching. You have me in tears!

That was so sweet of her. I wish I could have met her, or any of the idols for that matter.