(Disclaimer: this is ONLY for fans, and for no one else to read. This is the first draft of the story and it’s 4:09 am, I’ve been working on this ALL DAY, so bare with me)

It’s been 7 years since I saw her for the first time.

I still remember her plane arriving, and the crew opening the door while my heart skipped a beat at the same time…

I recall waking up that same day at 3 am, I barely slept knowing she’ll arrive and see the same blue water of the ocean I always lose my thoughts into, she would be in my world, the island that saw me grow up, my real world, not the make believe one I created around her, where Taylor is the sun. I never imagined my two worlds colliding like this.

At the time, I didn’t know if she was arriving by air or by sea, so I took precautions, and around 5:30 am, a scheduled taxi picked me up from my house and took me to the pier, where I knew the cruise she’d be performing in, would arrive at six. So I sat outside the building of the pier; it was still dark when the taxi left me there, all alone with my headphones on while I listened to Speak Now over and over again. I watched as the sun sat itself in place, and its shine bounced off on the Allure of the Seas as it glided on the water into place, the light reflecting, setting my hopes on fire, while I wondered if we were already breathing the same air.

It took a couple of hours for me to be surrounded by people and the noise of daily life; for others it was just a regular Friday morning, but for me, no, for me was so much more; I wasn’t only anticipating the weekend, I was anticipating meeting… her, Taylor, THE TAYLOR! By the time people started pouring out of the cruises -there were a few in the dock by now- my desperation started. Security was already in place doing their job, so I couldn’t actually go near the building where people went through before going on the street, and I didn’t know if Taylor would go out of the cruise walking -although that seem very unlikely- or on a private van, or if she would come down at all; overall, I knew nothing, just that she would be performing in that cruise in the afternoon. If she got off at all, the most obvious thing would be tinted vans, I thought, so I went by the place the cars went in and out, while still keeping an eye on the people walking nearby. I waited long hours on that sidewalk. Four or five hours had passed by and I was really impatient by then, thinking it was already late and I might already had missed her, and frustration grew up on me as I realized I was a one-fan-show, and a pretty bad one at that, as I had nothing more than a poster and a sharpie on me; I didn’t have a t-shirt, or a sign to draw her attention to me “how is she going to know I’m waiting for her, like this?” I was a lost cause; added to this, I saw no unusual movement whatsoever, and several vans had gone in and out of the pier on those hours; still, my vigilante mode was on, lurking near the car entrance, looking for movement, when a security from the building told me I couldn’t be there, so I moved a few steps to the side; I was already on the sidewalk, and he asked me to move again and I told him no. I could see the huge superiority complex his uniform gave him by the look on his face and the anger he spited as he threaten to call the police if I didn’t move; I breathed in the rage that wanted to get the best of me, and stated I was a pedestrian and had as much right to be there, as any other person “in fact” -I told him- “there’s a policeman over there, let’s ask him if I have the right to be here” so I walked to the cop handling the traffic and talked to him, he obviously reassured me; so I went and stood back where I was before. Shortly after that, Mario my cousin went in to keep me company and although the security bother me no more, I felt off; I was getting weary, it was late, and from where I stood I couldn’t keep as good view as before. I suddenly remembered asking my uncle a few days back, if he hadn’t heard any gossip on Taylor arriving, as he works on the control tower of the small airport of the island and knows of every single plane that gets in and out of town; he brushed me off, as he usually did, but I asked him that if he heard something, he had to call me. It was almost noon and I hadn’t heard from him, so I decided to call him back. It’s funny how clearly I recall him saying, “I don’t know about any Taylor, but there’s a private plane arriving from Tennessee…” and how he hadn’t even stopped telling the word Tennessee when I was already speed crazy running towards Mario’s car –and dragging him- while yelling to the phone “its her! Its Taylors plane! Oh my God!”

I was a nerve wreck the whole ride to the airport, knowing without any droplet of doubt that she’d be arriving soon, and I was going to be able to see her. When we got there, I met my uncle who had bad news for me, as he told me I couldn’t come close because the migration agents were going to meet Taylor on the runway, she wasn’t going through the actual airport building, however, I could watch from an office as the plane landed; it wasn’t the greatest consolation price, but a price however, so I had to take what given.

We waited for a couple of hours and then, as scheduled, the plane landed. My uncle and a friend had authorization, so they actually went on the runway and sat near where the officers were, while Mario, a co-worker of my uncle -and family friend since forever- and I stayed behind the glass wall, on an office. We were chatting away when he told me: “if you had arrived earlier, we would have made you a pass so you could get close” I was shocked, SHOCKED! And oh-so-mad at the fact that I couldn’t be near and instead I had a tree blocking my sight. Still, I was there, so I found a gap that allowed me to see when they opened the door of the plane, I could barely contain myself. Scott was the first of the family to come down, and then the clock melted the seconds like a Dalí clock, because I seemed to wait hours until Andrea came down, followed by a vision of golden curls on the loose; she was wearing dark jeans and that amused smile she uses without knowing, when her face is resting and her soul is happy; she descended the stairs carefully while being touched by the heat of the sun, and then rolled up the long sleeves of her blue flannel shirt, while quickly getting into a van. She was as flawless and gorgeous as I’d seen her all those times before on print and screen.

Outside the airport, we found some TV crew and fans that got the word she’d be there, so Mario and I stood near them as we watched the two black tinted vans passing us by while someone’s shadow inside the last car wave us goodbye. I was still so happy, that when the camera crew came and started asking me questions, I felt like I had irredeemably lost a battle, as I was obviously the oldest (25), the tallest, and overall, the most –unintentionally- attention worthy of all, so of course I had to absolutely embarrass myself on public local TV, and of course all of my friends and family saw it and still remember me of it.

Afterwards, Mario dropped me at home and I asked my friend Carla if she wanted to go to lunch at a hotel that’s by the pier. I love Carla, she never says no to my crazy adventures, so I picked her up and went to the hotel. The view was AMAZING, the Allure of the Seas was close, but there were other ships that blocked our view from it. Nevertheless, we ordered and I barely ate trying to listen to the concert, trying, because a Señor Frogs on the pier was blasting away party music, and I barely got the eco of the concert.

After a meal that I really couldn’t tell you if it was any good, we headed back to the airport, finding some fans we met before on our way, so we gave them a ride. The sun was starting to go down when we arrived, and there were a few fans, so we made friends quickly, and at one point someone started to pass heart-shaped post-it notes and we scribbled on them, I remember one that had the number 13 on it, but the I still have says “Tay” on it, and I keep it on a frame. It is truly amazing what a fandom is, I could se mirrored the same passion I had, on the other girls. It can do wonders, as it unites; you can become good friends with a person within minutes, because you love the same things, have the same goal, and more often that not, look out for each other without even realizing it. The night came and Taylor was nowhere to be seen. I knew she was leaving around 6 pm, however, it was much later and there was no sign of her. Someone had a contact that made us know they were on the way to the airport. By then, we had an understanding that we were going to be proper and as calm as possible, without any screaming because that was the best chance we had to see her up close. When the van came around the corner, we were standing in line by the sidewalk where they would pass, posters in hand and cameras filming. The van stopped a few meters away, time dragged on for a few seconds, and then they started going again. My heart dropped and I felt my eyes deceiving me, when I saw the car stopping right in front of me, and then my ears followed, hearing someone from her staff saying: “she wants to say hi to her fans” flatline. A second later, I saw Taylor coming down from the car, and I found myself wishing her good luck at the Grammys, and telling her she looked gorgeous at the People’s Choice Awards, and she so gracefully smiled and thanked me while signing my poster, even thought she was not even nominated for the Grammys that year. It amazes me how easily I seem to make a fool of myself when I need exactly the opposite. She was done with us in a minute, as there were only around ten of us, but she signed quickly while talking to each of us, thanking us, telling us how beautiful it is here, and how cute our post-its were. Just one minute, but the effect that minute had on each on us was beyond, it send us on a frenzy of happiness, because as soon as she went off, we started screaming and hugging each other, while laughing and crying at the same time. Counted times in my life I’ve reached that level of happiness, if at all.

That is why, 7 years later I keep by her side still, that minute is the reason I shut down the haters. Why I talk back when Latino fans say she hates us. Those few seconds are the reason I’m willing to travel to another country to see her for the first time in concert.

Do you see the impact a minute can do?

I know everyone says this, but Taylor, I was enchanted to meet you.