T Swizzle and I

I first started to appreciate her when I used to do piano medleys. What worked for her guitar was absolute magic on the piano. She threw a little pop in there and suddenly I was listening in the shower, hooked, addicted, bellowing the next lyrics. And next she’s everywhere. On tour, on the cover of magazines, at NFL games. She is, of course, Taylor Swift. I don’t think I would identify myself as a Swifty until recently when I would just listen to one song obsessively again and again until I systemically wore it out and moved on to the next one. Here are some of my favorites and how they’ve influenced me (Note this might have to stretch out into two blog posts)

Song: Should’ve Said No

You should’ve said no

You should’ve gone home

You should've thought twice 'fore you let it all go

I don’t talk about it much but my first boyfriend left me for my best friend, leaving me with two vacancies to fill. I swallowed my pride but no one knew how bad I felt about the whole thing. As far as I know, no guy has outright cheated on me but I have suspicions about several guys. I have a jealous personality so that does not go well. However, I have learned the art of not making baseless accusations and swallowing my own insecurities.

Song: Our Love

I was riding shotgun

With my hair undone

In the front seat of his car

I am never happiest than riding passenger seat on a quest with my guy- whether it be food, alcohol (in the past), a party or just circling the block. I loved lowering the window as wind ripples through my hair. I find I have the deepest conversations/ epiphanies in the passenger seat. The ideas just flow.

Songs: Teardrops on My Guitar

I’ll put his picture down

And maybe get some sleep tonight

This song was a lesson in tough love. Not every guy is going to like you. And pining hopelessly over someone isn’t going to make them. But I loved doing this ballad on the piano, thinking of whatever flavor of the month. Usually they changed spots pretty quickly.

Song: Forever and Always

And it rains in your bedroom

Everything is wrong

It rains here and it rains when you’re gone

I like the metaphor of it raining everywhere, particularly your bedroom (reminds me of Harry Potter where it is raining in everybody’s offices at the Ministry of Magic). Fun Leigh Fact: the first guy who said he loved me was singing in a gospel workshop on a field trip.

Song: Fearless

And I don't know how it gets better than this

You take my hand and drag me head first

Fearless

First love is the definition of fearless. You are opening yourself up to another person (emotionally, sometimes physically). That is risking all sorts of hurt. It’s not easy being vulnerable. It’s not easy being fearless.

Song: Fifteen

And Abigail gave everything she had

To a boy who changed his mind

The story of my first kiss is not really a happy one so I wanted to make my first time (i.e. sex) really special. I waited a full year with the same guy and we celebrated on our anniversary. We broke up a year later, no hard feelings. I have no regrets about the way I lost my virginity. And it was eighteen, not fifteen.

Song: Love Story

So I sneak out to the garden to see you

We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew

One of my biggest mistakes when I was a teenager was sneaking around with an older guy who didn’t give a shit about me. Except we didn’t go to the garden, we went to “the campgrounds” hooking up in sheds and on picnic tables. Classy. The guy was no Romeo, I’m grateful not to be a Juliet any longer.

Song: White Horse

This is a big world,

That was a small town,

There in my rear view mirror disappearing now,

I still live in the same town I grew up in, same house, same street, everything. But the world feels different now. In high school, it felt small, confining, limiting. Now I feel like I can tackle everything. I know more people, I have overcome more barriers. But it took me leaving to go to college to come back and feel that way about the place I now call home.

Song: You Belong with Me

Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find

That what you're looking for has been here the whole time

In high school, I had a hapless crush on this guy who went to my youth group. He was smitten with some girl who didn’t treat me very well (probably because she could see my crush). She wasn’t exactly Cheer Captain type (then again neither was I). And I moved on before he realized what he lost.

Song: You’re Not Sorry

This is the last straw

Don’t want to hurt anymore

Turning people down is not my favorite thing. But sometimes you gotta for self-preservation reasons. I tell this story often- about the once playboy crawling back to me asking for a second (or third? Or fourth?) chance. When I turned him down, I was thinking more of my parents than of  me but in years looking back I’m so glad I spared myself that pain.

Some of these blurbs are vague because I have dated a lot (like a certain pop star we all know) but not all of them have ended amicably. I’ll try to be a little more s