Just a few years ago, mid-August meant back-to-school shopping and getting my class schedules. It meant wondering where my locker was, hoping it was an upper locker (not a lower locker. Because I'm a giant.) Hanging out with my best friend Abigail at her house, talking about guys, and how someday I wanted to be a singer and she wanted to get a college scholarship for swimming. Those day-before-school jitters, finishing up summer projects, and having nightmares about tripping and falling in front of everybody on the first day. Then you guys came into the picture.
Now mid-August means touring the country, singing songs about my life, and looking out at people singing the words back to me. Preparing for my performance on the VMA's and counting down to my first concert at Madison Square Garden. My band and I are gearing up for our next trip back to the UK. Abigail is still my best friend, and we still talk about guys, but now she's in college at Kansas with a scholarship for... you guessed it: Swimming. And last night, she and my friend Kellie Pickler came out onstage and surprised me with a sign that said "Congratulations, Taylor! You Won 2 Teen Choice Awards!" These days, I spend a lot of my time planning my next step, organizing my next project, coming up with my next move.. But what I think about even more than all of that is the fact that you guys DID come into the picture, and you made all of this happen.
I think about high school a lot, and how I'm so glad to have had two years of going to school and messing up my locker combination and going to football games and participating in gym class even though I have no coordination. I'll never forget walking past the guy I'd been crushing on for months, making eye contact with him, and then realizing my flip flop had fallen off right in front of him. Turn around, pick it back up, pretend like you're not mortified. I'll never forget the talent show my freshmen year, the one I was so nervous about.. I wanted to write a song specifically for the talent show, so I wrote one in about 20 minutes one day after school. It was about my then-boyfriend and it was called "Our Song". I'll never forget having my permit, and switching places with my mom in the car when we got to school in the mornings. I'll never forget getting asked to go to prom two days before, buying a $40 dress, and having the time of my life. You have your bad days when it feels like there's just so much drama, or not enough going on at all. But then you have the days you'll never forget, the ones that make you into who you're going to be. This is not my graduation speech, I swear.
This is just me saying to you.. Thank you for what you've done for me.
And to those of you going back to school, take it in.
And I hope you don't fall in front of everybody on the first day. ;)
lovelovelove
-T-