I Said Remember This Moment…
About 5 minutes past when Taylor finally arrived. The whole room yelled and clapped for her as she walked through the entrance. She said “well, hey guys!” and I immediately started crying again.
I looked around at everyone’s reactions to her. I have to remember every detail. I remember thinking how bizarre it was seeing her this close. She was three feet away from me and I could not believe it. It’s so weird knowing her so well, knowing exactly every feature of her face from seeing her so much in concert, on TV, and in pictures. But seeing her in person is unreal.
She was wearing a black dress with ¼ length sleeves. The dress ended just above her knees and she was wearing brown lace up Oxfords. I remember her hair being perfect. It was the most beautiful color of blond and there wasn’t a single strand out of place. As she made her way around the room talking to all of the groups, my eyes followed her.
I wanted to remember every moment of this.
We made small talk with others until she got to our groups. When she got to the group before me I started to panic. Stephanie told me to get out what I wanted Taylor to sign and to get out my camera. I leaned down to get my things from my bag that I had earlier put on the ground next to the costume cases. Then it happened.
TAYLOR!
Taylor came up to me. The first thing I noticed was her eyes. They were so pretty. She was wearing winged eye liner and gold eye makeup. She came up to me and pulled me into a hug and I couldn’t believe it.
She was wearing Taylor by Taylor Swift. I knew because I got some samples before the concert at the wonderstruck booth.
I started tearing up. She said, “Hey, I’m Taylor!” and I started to cry.
She said, “Awe, you’re so cute!” I panicked so I just started saying whatever came to my mind...
“OMG Taylor you are so beautiful and perfect, I can’t believe this!”
She gave me a cute look and said, “Oh, you… stop!” In a funny way, like she always does.
We laughed together and she asked where I was from. I told her Charleston, South Carolina and mentioned that I was also at her show the night before in Greensboro. She said, “OMG, you drove all this way just for me?”
And I said, “Of course! I love you so much! I have been to all of your tours they are all so perfect. I love your set lists and your dancers and you do such an amazing job. They’re so perfect!”
Taylor said, “Thank you so much, you are the sweetest! Can I have a picture I with you?”
I jokingly said, “I guesssss.” And she laughed and we took a serious picture with all smiles.
Taylor then threw her arms around me and almost knocked me over. I didn’t know what pose to do, I was in complete shock that Taylor Swift was hugging me and posing for a picture with me!
After we took our two pictures, she turned back to me and continued making small talk with me.
She noticed my arms and said, “OMG you have stickers all over your arms! That is amazing!”
I said, “YES because they’re sparkly!”
She went on to tell me how great that was and that if I had trouble getting them off tonight I should try using hairspray because that works really well.
Taylor grabbed my left arm and was looking at my arm lyrics. They said, ‘I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it.’
I said, “I had to get my boyfriend to write that for me because I’m left handed and I wanted them on the same arm that you used to do!”
She said, “Ohhh, you have a boyfriend, do you?” and winked at me.
I said yes and she said, “And how long have you had him?”
I said about 3 years and she said that’s amazing.
I said “Yes, and he totally supports my crazy Swiftie-ness so that was the #1 rule.”
She laughed and said my costume was so great. She said, “Do you have anything you want me to sign?” I pulled out mine and my dad’s CD covers and showed them to her.
She signed the first one, ‘I love Jessica! <3 Taylor’ and I told her about how much my dad adores her and how he’s such a big fan.
She said, “That is so awesome! Is this his?” as she grabbed for the second album cover in my hand.
I said yes and she asked, “And what’s his name?”
So I told her and she signed it, ‘I love Charles! <3 Taylor’
I said “OMG I know you’re not supposed to do that so thank you so much! My dad is going to flip out! This is not real right now.”
Taylor was like, “wait what?”
and I was like, “This, right now. Meeting you. This is a dream come true. Thank you so much, Taylor!”
Then she said, “Ohh, I was like wait, what’s not real?” And she laughed.
She thanked me for being so supportive and she hugged me again. As she went to the next group she waved and said she loved me! I told her that I would see her next tour and she said “You bet!”
It’s taken me a few days to remember all that. I was in complete shock at everything that just happened. This has been my dream for so long and now everything was happening perfectly.
As if this wasn’t amazing enough…
Taylor went on to the next group and I was still in complete shock. I turned to the girls beside me and we were freaking out together. Now that I already had the pictures with Taylor taken, I could cry.
I noticed that Mama Swift was talking to some girls so I watched and listened. She realized who I was and looked at me,
“Come here, Jessica, sweetheart!” she had her arms out again for another hug.
I was like, Mama Swift just remembered MY named and asked for ME to come stand by her! What is air?!
I immediately started to cry again. I couldn’t help it. It was all so amazing.
Mama Swift is SO sweet and she treated me like I was her own child. She made sure I was taken care of and that I had the perfect club red experience. She asked me where I was from and made small talk. Somewhere between me thanking her every few words, and telling her how flawless her daughter was, I got to tell her that it was my 22nd birthday.
She said, “No way! That is so ironic!” Some girls then came up to talk to her but she still kept me by her side in a hug. (Is this real life?)
The girls asked for a picture with her and asked if I could take it. I agreed and then asked if I could please get them to take one of me and Mama Swift.
So she pulled me in close and we took a picture. It was literally the cutest picture ever.
I will cherish it forever.
After we took the picture she turned to me and told me happy birthday. I asked her if I could please sign something for me. Of course she said yes.
I gave her my album cover and she flipped through it. She turned it to the “22” lyric page and signed “Mama Swift loves you!”
How perfect is that? The “22” page on my 22nd birthday… what.
She handed it back to me and I said thank you like I had a million times by now. I didn’t know what else to say. It all felt like a dream.
You could just feel how loving and supportive Mama Swift was. She was a beautiful person, inside and out, and you could definitely feel that!
Papa Swift!...
We continued to talk when Scott Swift walked up and asked, “You’re Jessica, right? The crazy girl from the floor?”
(He didn’t mean it in a rude way, but in a “crazy fan” type of way.)
I laughed and said, “Yes sir, that was me! I couldn’t help it. You’re daughter is so perfect in every way. I love her so much.”
He said, “Thank you so much. Yeah, I had my eye on you the entire night. I went to Andrea and said ‘there’s this girl over here that you HAVE to pick’ so we decided to come get you together!”
I couldn’t believe it… Scott Swift was the one who picked me. I’m pretty sure that like never happens…
Scott went on to tell me more about how amazing my support for Taylor was during the concert and that he had never seen some one so into the performance and Taylor’s singing. He noticed that I never took my eyes off of Tay and that I was completely into and knew every word to every song.
He went on to say, “while everyone was bothering us about club red, and we were right behind you, I noticed you didn’t even turn around! That is so awesome!”
I said, “OMG thank you so much! You don’t know how much that means to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
He asked if he had given me guitar picks because he said he wanted to make sure he had. He told me about how he starts the night off with hundreds of them filling both pockets, and by the middle of the night they’re all gone.
“I don’t know where they all go. It’s like they just disappear!” He was so nice and so goofy.
It was amazing how he was carrying on a conversation with me about any and everything. He asked me again where I was from and we went on to talk about Charleston, South Carolina and how amazing the shopping is there.
Scott said, “That’s one of Taylor’s favorite towns to stop and shop.”
What… like what. MY town? Where I live? OMG.
Oh, Taylor!...
After that conversation with Scott, it was time for Taylor to get going. But before she left, Stephanie asked us all to gather in a group. We thought it was to take a picture, but she went on to explain that they were filming footage for the Red Tour DVD and that we were going to be in it!
Everyone was super excited. Mama Swift organized us in a group and told us exactly what to do.
She told us, “on the count of 3 I want you all to yell, ‘WE MADE IT TO CLUB RED!’ 1, 2….3!”
Taylor being her usual self was off playing with photo booth. When we yelled it, we startled her! So she jumped up and turned around and was like,
“wait, what!! We’re filming something?!” and she jumped into the camera shot. Totally photo bombed. It was so perfect!
We said our final goodbyes to Taylor as she walked out. I was super sad that it was over. But I was so excited that it all happened. I took another good look at the club red room and took a deep breath. It smelt like Taylor by Taylor! It was time for us to go so we gathered our things and started on our way out.
Dream Impossible Things…
It has taken me literally almost a week to gather my thoughts. This was a dream come true for me. I spent months and months planning and brainstorming ideas. I remember dreaming about getting picked for club red and how amazing it would be to meet Taylor; and then it finally happened.
And everything was perfect. Everything happened perfectly and I wouldn’t change a single thing about that night. (Except maybe Mama Swift adopts me and I finish the tour with Taylor! To Nashville!) Hey, a girl can dream. And that’s what I did.
I dreamt.
I had a dream and I wasn’t going to give up on it. I got a lot of rude comments during my Red Tour preparations.
“Ew, Taylor Swift?”
“You’re never going to meet her.”
“You are crazy!”
“That’s so immature. You’re almost 22 and you’re spending all this time on this…”
Things like that almost got to me. But I didn’t let it. I knew it meant the world to me to meet Taylor Swift again. I wanted it and I worked for it.
I pray these memories never leave me. This day was the most amazing experience of my entire life. Taylor Swift will forever be my role model and I will be a Swiftie until the day I die.
I’ll be 87 and she’ll be 89 and I’ll still look at her like the stars that shine. (; -Mary’s song reference! But seriously.
She is so perfect and I will forever be behind her and support her 100%!
Instagram: @jessisfearless
YouTube: youtube.com/jessisfearless
