An eight-year-old girl penned a letter from camp expressing her happiness prior to disaster. Her bereaved mother, family, and community now rely on that letter as a lifeline of love.

A very personal letter from her eight-year-old daughter, Blakely McCrory, is being held by Lindsey McCrory as families continue to grieve the devastating flash floods that killed several people at Camp Mystic in Texas. Days before the catastrophe, Blakely penned the letter.

Blakely was among the vacationers who perished over the weekend of July 4, 2025, when the Guadalupe River overflowed due to destructive weather, according to People Magazine. Following the catastrophe, some of the little girl’s belongings that were found in the wrecked cottage provided comfort to her family. The letter was one of the goods.

In the note, the deceased camper had written to her mom, describing how happy she was at camp. She went on to narrate the fun time she was having playing tennis and horseback riding. “Having the letter is actually very special because I knew that she was having the best time of her life,” Lindsey tells the publication.Blakely attended Camp Mystic, a Christian camp tucked away in the Texas Hill Country, for the first time this summer. For the family, the encounter held particular significance. Years before, Lindsey had gone to the camp with her sisters, stepmother, and stepsisters.

The article claims that the distraught mother said that Blakely was “ecstatic” to be present and a “third-generation Mystic camper,” adding:

“She could not wait to be in the outdoors. It was like having the biggest sleepover you can imagine as a little girl, because you’re in a cabin with 11 girls who become your best friends, right?”Lindsey, on vacation in Europe with her younger sister, was not concerned when she first learnt that it was raining at the camp because she had visited Camp Mystic in 1987 under identical circumstances.

“They’re probably having a blast. Because that’s what I remembered: Oh, rainy day, stay in your cabin, play board games, or listen to music, whatever. It’s going to pass,” she recalled thinking. But several hours later, her tone changed when a friend called to tell her that some campers were unaccounted for.Lindsey heard a voicemail from the camp after that conversation, confirming that her daughter was missing. That night, the distraught mother and her sister promptly made plans to return to Texas via plane. Brady, Blakely’s elder half-brother, and his mother looked for the small girl at local evacuation centres as they flew home without hearing anything.

By Sunday, when there was still no word, the 50-year-old mother said, “I thought, ‘Oh, maybe she and one of those counselors are somewhere dry, but they’re just lost…Maybe they’re just lost, and I don’t know, they’re surviving together somehow.’ I mean, of course, you want to think these things.”In a public statement that same Sunday, Lindsey thanked everyone for their prayers, love, and support as the hunt went on. They were focussing all of their hope, prayer, and energy on first responders and the hunt for Blakely and her campmates, even if it was difficult to be optimistic. She exhorted everyone to follow suit.On Monday evening, Blakely’s death was confirmed. Lindsey was devastated, but she found comfort in understanding what had happened to her daughter at last:

“And I guess I had prepared myself mentally for that phone call, that I might get that call, that she has passed. So I was calm. It gave me some closure, and I knew she was in a safe place, with her daddy, in heaven. I knew that it was going to be okay