Jessica Belmosto

I’ve tried to gather my thoughts as much I possibly could. The majority of the night is a blur. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Emotions were high and I was on cloud nine. 

After eleven long years, my dream came true. I feel like I’m living in a fairytale. I’m sitting here typing this and feel like I’m making up a story. My wild imagination could never write a fairytale like this.

I should preface with what the Rep Room is, as it’s mentioned here a few times. Every tour Taylor hosts a meet and greet backstage. Her mom walks around the stadium looking for fans to attend. They’re usually fans in costumes or fans who are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Typically 30 fans get picked. 30 fans out of 50,000… Think about that.

Thursday night my dad and I attended Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour at Gillette Stadium. This has been a tradition of ours for the past eleven years. To rewind, my dad and I have been following Taylor since she was an opening act. Meeting her has been a VERY long time coming. Back to the story. My dad and I started up in section 302. It was a really cool view! I could see the entire venue. It wasn’t a bad seat at all. I won’t bore you with a review of the opening acts but let’s just say, my dad and I streamed the Sox game.

Midway through Camila Cabello’s set, my friend messaged me. He told me that he had access to two floor wristbands and he wanted to get my dad and I down there. Once we had the wristbands, it was go time. I had no intentions of getting picked for the Rep Room. I was going there to celebrate the last eleven years. I knew this would more than likely be the last time my dad would go to a concert with me. The stadium lights went out and the show began. Taylor took the stage. I was going off. I was so excited to see her and hear some of my favorite songs again.

I think the night changed at some point during Gorgeous. I saw Taylor Swift’s mom. I waved to her and started talking. This is the ONE chance I had. I could barely form sentences because of how excited I was. I mentioned that my dad and I had been following Taylor since she was an opening act. Andrea chuckled and asked, “If you’ve been following her this long how haven’t you met her?” I couldn’t help but laugh because I’ve been asking myself the same question. She waved my dad over so she could talk to him. It’s all a blur but she asked us if we wanted to meet her. My dad had no idea what was going on. I started crying and nodding my head. I looked like a damn bobblehead. Andrea pointed to her assistant and she gave us wristbands. Needless to say, we both started crying. I don’t think my dad had ever hugged me that hard. I took to twitter to share the news.

Translation: I got picked for Rep Room.

After calming down and trying to gather my thoughts, I tweeted something a little more coherent out.

The love from friends started to pour in. I was very overwhelmed. They knew how long I had been waiting for this.

https://twitter.com/HaileyVeurink/status/1022655132645949440

To be completely honest, I don’t remember much about the concert. I sang my heart out and cried whenever I caught a glimpse of my dad tearing up. I couldn’t believe that our dream was finally coming true. We ended up going to the meeting place a little early. The last thing we wanted was to miss out on the chance to meet Taylor.

Fast forward an hour. We’re sitting in a tent-like room. The walls were black and gold fabrics with posters of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton hung as decorations. There was a playlist going on. Everyone spent around half an hour taking polaroids with friends and using the throne as a great prop. It was a beautiful room. We weren’t allowed to our phones in, so sadly I don’t have any photos to show you. I mingled with some fans. I had recognized some from twitter and other social media platforms. For the most part I stayed back with my dad.

After being summoned to line up, all of us waiting patiently. The girls in front of me had been fans for just about as long as I had. We were talking about how we’d been waiting forever and thought we knew exactly what to say. In that moment, our brains were just blank. How on earth do you tell Taylor Swift eleven years worth of stories in a matter of two minutes? Andrea talked with each group before they went into to talk to Taylor. It was like getting a blessing before you propose to someone. She called me an angel and talked to my dad about how important having a bond with your child is. My dad was brought to tears when I mentioned some of the things I had gone through. Andrea wished me the best of luck when I mentioned I was going into journalism. It was the littlest things that meant the most to me.

“Next group.” was called out. Oh, god. The moment of truth. Was Taylor going to be as sweet as I imagined? Would I remember my name and what I wanted to tell her? My dad and I were greeted with the warmest smile and hug. We got to talking and I could feel the tears building up. Taylor listened so intently when I told her about being bullied and going through some weird breakups. She made me feel so validated just by acknowledging that life is hard. Taylor said something along the lines of “You’re so strong and I’m so glad you could be here.” I wanted to throw up. The girl who played such a big part in my early adolescence was happy to meet me. One of my biggest insecurities is my smile. Taylor and I got to talking about something and she stopped me mid sentence to complement me on it. Again, puke mode nearly activated. The meet and greet ended with picture and a hug. It was everything I could’ve ever dreamed about.

It’s now Sunday. I’m still processing that it actually happened. My lock screen is now a picture of me with my two favorite people. The amount of love and support everyone showed me was beyond overwhelming. I’ll end it with this… Time heals and dreams come true.