Katie and Taylor Swift
In January I learned Taylor Swift was coming to Germany and Chris and I immediately purchased tickets for the three of us, without Katie even knowing. Days later Katie excitedly told us of the upcoming concert and promised she’d save up the money herself if she could go. We told her if she could save 50 dollars by the night of the concert we’d take her. She was SOOOO excited. She worked HARD to earn the money in six weeks… Especially since she had to earn $120 total to get the $50 of spending. (50% of her earnings had to go to her college fund and 10% to tithing)
A week before the concert, our best babysitter friend, 16 year old Lizzy, invited Katie over for a Fan Party where they made T-shirts and posters and listened to Taylor Swift music. She was SOOOO excited.
Katie has been a Taylor Swift fan for a couple years now. She knows EVERY one of her songs BY HEART and listens to them non-stop on her iPod, in her room and in the car. She was beyond excited when Ryan gave her SPEAK NOW… Taylor’s latest album, for Christmas. (Ryan was just as excited to give it to her since he knew she was going to freak out.) Since then she is even more Taylor crazy. She is constantly on TaylorSwift.com showing us all the music videos and keeping up to date on Taylor’s blog and where Taylor is now on her SPEAK NOW tour. Katie and the girls have choreographed several dances to all their favorite songs.
Emily and Megan are big fans too. I’m amazed at how well Megan knows all the words too. {Side note: One day Megan came to me and said, “Mom, we’re not supposed to listen to music with bad words and Taylor Swift says a bad word in one of her songs.” “Oh dear,” I say trying to scan the lyrics for this word that has slipped by me. Megan continues… “She says… “ this STUPID ol’ pick up truck”. With a little relief I said, “oh, yes, that is NOT good. Let’s think of a different word to sing instead.” Megan suggested ‘stinky’ so now they all sing “this STINKY ol’ pick up truck…” at the top of their lungs to cover up the bad word.}
On Saturday, March 12th Chris, Katie and I drove 3 hours north-west to Oberhausen, Germany. We parked, took a few excited pictures and headed in to take our seats. “I just know Taylor is going to be able to see my poster from here” says Katie as we sit down. We were SOOO excited for the concert to start. The opening band was a couple of guys on guitar from Ireland. They were simple but good. When the lights went down and Taylor came out the crowd went WILD. It was so fun to see Katie so excited… it made me cry.
The concert was amazing. One of the things Chris and I both noticed was how sincere Taylor seemed to be. She looked honestly flattered that we were there cheering for her and kept saying how happy she was to be there… her FIRST concert in Germany. At one point Taylor walked and sang around the rim of the floor and was just 2 feet in front of us.
My favorite Taylor song is ENCHANTED (first two pictures below) and it was so well done. After the concert Chris said it was his new Taylor favorite as well.
All pictures from TaylorSwift.com
The whole show was just fabulous. Katie and I screamed so hard we lost our voices. Katie sang every word right along with Taylor. Chris and I had so much fun being there with Katie. After Taylor’s encore performance and Taylor was literally swept off stage, the lights of the auditorium turned on and Katie said, “Mom, I miss her already.” It was adorable. Right then Katie spotted Taylor Swift’s mom being escorted out of the audience. She always picks fans to attend the T-party… A small gathering of fans who get to meet Taylor and hang out with her in the T-party room. Since Katie knows all about this, she bolted over to her but just missed her. Right then one of the security guards walking with Taylor’s mom handed Katie a Taylor Swift guitar pick. She loves it! What a fun night!!!