I’m Just Gonna Shake It Off…

Confession time – I’m kinda a “Swiftie”…. Not a full-fledged Swiftie, I don’t own ALL of Taylor Swift’s albums (but I do have a lot of them!), and I don’t know all of the lyrics to every song (but I can belt out a mean “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood”).  I own several Taylor shirts, and a hoodie, and maybe a Taylor Swift wig (I’ll discuss that in a little bit).

Over the years, I have loved to sing and dance with my grandkids as Taylor’s music blared (it literally blares at full audio) through the speakers.  My favorite song is “Shake It Off” and it’s my song of choice when we have dance offs.  Much to my dismay, the grandkids always disqualify me because, “you shake your bum too much, Gaga!”

Somehow, I dropped the ball and didn’t score tickets for Taylors Eras Concert in Pittsburgh this past June.  I was more distraught than the girls.   So I was ecstatic when she announced the Eras Concert Tour Movie and immediately bought tickets for the opening weekend at the AMC Waterfront 22 Theater in Pittsburgh.  And then that’s when I went a little crazy…. I purchased a new Taylor t-shirt, a long purple tutu skirt, and a wig.  My motto has always been, “Go big or go home” and let’s just say that this wig was big!

Of course the movie was over a deadline week.  And of course I foolishly waited until Friday night when the grandkids were over for a sleepover for us to create Friendship Bracelets to trade at the movie.  After discovering that making bracelets is not as much fun as what all of the online Swifties were saying,  I placed a frantic late night order for bigger beads for delivery the next morning from Walmart and Michaels. 

I dropped the kids off at their house on Saturday afternoon and then made the 2 hour round trip to Oakmont Bakery for Taylor Swift cookies.  And then I spent around the next 7 hours making 60 bracelets. 

Finally it was Sunday and SQUEEEEE!  It’s Eras Tour Movie time!  To say that the girls were shocked when I rolled up bedecked in my Swiftie outfit would be an understatement.  The two younger granddaughters inquired in disbelief if that was my real hair… spoiler alert, it’s not.  The oldest granddaughter was flat out mortified but was too polite to say anything.  I give her credit, she didn’t even roll her eyes at me, she just gave a bemused little smirk.

We arrived at the theater, I plopped my wig back on my head and we went inside to pose for photos in front of the movie poster.  I noticed that my group was staying about 5 steps in front or behind me…. To be honest, the wig was itchy, it was flopping here and there and everywhere and I suspected that I did not look like Taylor Swift. (Spoiler alert – I most definitely did NOT look like Taylor Swift!) I ditched the wig and my 5 year old granddaughter nabbed it and strolled out of the bathroom looking like a pop star!

The show was sold out and there were Swifties of all ages singing and swaying in their seats.  As luck would have it, I was seated beside my eight year old granddaughter, who loves nothing better than to sing and dance – rinse, lather, and repeat.  We held hands and gyrated in our seats and sang at the top of our lungs.  We shimmied and shook and raised our arms high in the air.  We gasped at Taylor’s spectacular costumes, and the amazing concert sets.  The dancers were spectacular. 

For 2 hours and 49 minutes, we were transported into a land of musical delight that spanned the eras of Taylor’s career.  I left wanting more to be around for more eras, singing and dancing and shaking it off with my girls. (Minus the wig.)