Lin Socie

September 2024 Issue

by Lesley Kyle
Photos Submitted by Lin Socie & Cara Crouch


Sometimes life gives you an opportunity you can’t pass up.

Lin Socio is a former Pittsburgher who has called Hilton Head Island home for 25 years. A retired realtor, Lin raised her children in her Hilton Head Plantation home. Now known as “Mimi” to her grandchildren, Lin shares an especially close bond with her 10-year-old granddaughter, Lilyana. Lin also enjoys a maternal friendship with her former daughter-in-law, Cara, Lily’s mother.

Like many girls her age, Lily is a devout Taylor Swift fan. Cara searched high and low for reasonably priced Taylor Swift concert tickets across the U.S. Swift’s highly acclaimed “The Eras Tour” has swept the globe and was released as a film last October. Lin, Cara, and Lily saw the movie twice, but it wasn’t the live concert experience they desired.


Lily wanted to see Swift so badly she began projects to make money to buy tickets. She made and sold crafts, she had a lemonade and cookie stand, and she washed neighbors cars all for the love of Taylor. Single Swift concert ticket prices started at $1,000 around the U.S. and commanded similar fees in Canada. The exorbitant price of four tickets (to include a seat for Cara’s mom, Carla, at Lily’s request) was cost-prohibitive. Undeterred, Lily continued to save money and Cara continued to search for more affordable tickets and found a set of four VIP tickets with a price they could live with. The catch: The tickets were for a show in Warsaw, Poland. As it happens, Lin’s family heritage is Polish, so she was touched and surprised when Cara surprised her with the all-expenses paid trip. A reluctant flyer, Lin’s only obligation was to bring spending money and the courage to endure the long flight from Hilton Head to Warsaw. Trip and concert planning were officially underway!


On July 31, the inter-generational Swiftie group embarked on the adventure of a lifetime with their outfits and friendship bracelets packed! Since their flight to Warsaw departed from New York City’s JFK International Airport, the quartet stopped to see the sights in the Big Apple. The Swifties literally hit the ground running with a three-hour walking tour soon after they landed. The next day, they flew to Warsaw and checked into their hotel which was at maximum capacity with fellow Swifties, all full of excitement and anticipation.

The family was already enchanted by the new Swiftie friends they made at JFK Airport, where the bracelet trading began. Fans of Taylor Swift enjoy making and trading colorful beaded friendship bracelets. The bracelets feature a word or phrase—often a Swift song lyric—that conveys meaning to the giver and recipient. “We made friendship bracelets for a month before we left,” said Lin. “Everywhere we went, we met girls from around the globe and traded bracelets. It was such a unifying moment for girls.” In the streets of Warsaw, girls from different nations and cultures convened to sing Swift’s songs. The love for Swift and her songs was palpable.

Lin estimates that nearly 80 percent of the people they met in Warsaw were Ukrainians who fled the war in their homeland. The family encountered a woman accompanied by her young daughters, ages 9 and 5, who left Ukraine for the summer. The mom revealed that she brought her daughters to Warsaw to escape the war and enjoy some normalcy. The young family departed their home in East Ukraine soon after the invasion began, but while West Ukraine provided some relief, they still had to report to a bomb shelter every night. The two families are now Facebook friends, and Lily and the 9-year-old Ukrainian girl are pen pals. The families became close, and Lin was so touched by their story, she invited them to visit in Hilton Head.

When the highly anticipated night of the concert arrived, the Swiftie party of four arrived three hours early to enjoy the pre-show VIP cocktail party. From seats with an excellent view of the stage, Lin and company watched Swift perform her back catalog of tunes for three and a half hours. “Every person in that stadium knew every word to every song,” observed Lin. “I saw The Beatles in concert, and the atmosphere was similar.”

They lost their way on their 1 a.m. return to the hotel and walked around Warsaw for hours, feeling safe amongst the other 65,000 concertgoers. Cara had also enrolled them in a pierogi-making class at a local’s home, where the travelers enjoyed libations and food while swapping stories with other American Swift concertgoers.

Lin is making Lily, who is her only granddaughter, a shadow box full of concert memorabilia. This adventure of a lifetime for Lily, her mother and two grandmothers has left indelible memories.

Lin said, “It was an amazing, eye-opening, and unforgettable trip. I am more hopeful for our divided world’s future because of how connected these little girls were and the love I witnessed.”