Way too loud

Dear Taylor,

It's Wednesday night, I'm once again sitting on my balcony in awe of the beautiful scenery and weather around me, a bowl of warm pasta in my lap, when all of a sudden You Need to Calm Down comes blaring through my AirPods. In any other moment, I would have taken the opportunity to "skip" the song and go on to the next quiet, more peaceful and relatable song that is Afterglow, but instead, I let myself listen to a more upbeat tune that puts me into a good mood just as the sun is going down.

As a thirteen-year fan, I can truly attest to the fact that there is not one song released in the past thirteen years I truly did not like. Of course there are some I like better than others; I listen to different songs when I am working out in the morning, driving to and from work, and falling asleep. I have days where I listen to one album on repeat and days when a single song is on repeat for 10, 20, maybe 50 times before I even consider changing it to something else. It is the magic of lyrics and melodies that draw me in, and I have been able to relate to each song in one way or another over the past thirteen years. That being said, that mantra is what this blog is truly about: the connection of the listener to the music, and quite possibly there is no better way to connect this topic to the moment I experienced tonight than to share my YNTCD story.

It's a rather short one, to be honest. I was on the last week of a 4-week break between graduation and starting my job when I decided to spend an afternoon getting lost in an art gallery near my apartment at the time. I'm fortunate to live in a place with easy access to some of the greatest museums in the country, but two years of a rigorous graduate program and the constant plague of weekend work made it hard to enjoy any free time that in all honesty was better allocated towards functioning as a decent human-activities such as sleeping, eating, running errands before certain products ran out, and catching up on a good book/movie. So on one of the last few days of pure "freedom," I let myself get lost in an art gallery I had only visited briefly once in my three years living there. So sure enough when my phone buzzed that afternoon {albeit at an unusual time when no one would need to reach me}, you could imagine my excitement at the announcement of a livestream the next day at 5pm.

The day of June 13 I was entirely and completely lazy. I slept in, worked out, and in an effort to get out of the house and pass the time, walked to a nearby spa and got a pedicure. It was the perfect way to spend my last day being 24 years old. Come 5:00, my friends and I were abuzz with excitement as the livestream began. In a matter of minutes, the prospect of turning 25 went from depressing to exciting...a new single! a new album! in two months! a new video! And to top it all off I was spending the evening with my friends at a baseball game...which we mutually used to pass the time until midnight.

So how does this all tie together you may ask? You see, You Need to Calm Down may not be my most favorite Taylor Swift song ever; it is probably not even in my top 5 songs from Lover, but it holds a special place in my heart as the single that was released on my 25th birthday. Track 14 on June 14th. And while my friends and family may have asked me to calm down repeatedly upon its release and try to convince me otherwise, I will never not accept You Need to Calm Down as the birthday present gifted to me by the queen of pop herself in honor of 25 years of living and 13 years as a fan. And for that, I will always proudly bop along to the true award-winning classic it is.

LoveLoveLove,
Hannah

I only see daylight

Dear Taylor,

It's Tuesday night, I've just come off my longest day of the week at work, and all I want to do is curl up in bed, eat a pint of ice cream and fall asleep. My brain is fried, and yet somehow I muster up the energy to make dinner-a bowl of pasta reheated with chicken and some tomato sauce, grab my water bottle and a towel, and sit on the balcony of my new apartment. The music of Lover drowns the sound of the planes taking off and landing just miles away, the neighbors downstairs using the community grill, and lingering traffic on the street to my left. It is a beautiful night.

Daylight comes on through my AirPods and I can't help but take in the moment. "I only see daylight" I say to myself as Taylor serenades my Tuesday evening. Daylight is a funny concept to me nowadays, as a mere two months ago I started my first "real-world" post-grad job and while I absolutely love the work I do-it is meaningful and fulfilling and makes for wonderful stories at the end of the week-I can't help but feel a ping of sadness that the days are already starting to get shorter and my daylight hours are dwindling as summer slowly-but ever so surely-transitions to fall. You see, this wouldn't nearly have bothered me three weeks ago; only very recently did I just pack up my life and move across state lines to a new home so I could be closer to the job I love. And as much as I loved my previous home-it was in a busy sprawling city, close to friends and family I love-the fact that it backed up to another apartment building meant daylight exposure was limited to whatever sunshine happened to peek through the alleyway that separated me from my neighbors. I had to "actively prepare" to step outside, and only then could I judge if it was sufficient to meet my needs in that moment. But this new place, albeit further from the busy city and my friends and family, has allowed me to experience daylight in a new way of sorts. Whether I have spent the simplest day at home doing chores and watching TV, or have come home from a long day at work, I have the option to sit on my balcony, reflect on life, and soak up daylight in its purest form.

Daylight hits home for me because not only have I listened to it every time I have sat on my balcony in the past few days, it is a constant reminder to take in the moment and truly appreciate each day for what it is. I may be tired from work, and this may just be me going on and on for no good reason, but I want to say thank you for inspiring me to make this simplest change in my new life. The daylight hours may be dwindling, but my new life is beginning, and I cannot wait to see what is in store.

LoveLoveLove,

Hannah