#they also gave me a care package with a christmas bread and chocolate spread and stuff

[babyseraphim]

ONE OF MY STUDENT’S MOMS GAVE ME A $100 TIP IM????

[ourtaylorstory]

Part 2: Meeting @taylorswift Chapter 1: Let’s Try In the fall of 2012, my daughter Page had smiled at me and mentioned in passing, “You know what Mom? Taylor always makes me feel better”...... That smile of hers had stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t seen happiness in her, like that, since my cancer journey had begun. It had been a long year for all of us, and even though I was exhausted, I decided to do what I could to cheer up my family. Later that night, I sat next to Page on the couch and asked her about her comment. “Oh, you know, Mom.” she said, “Her music just cheers me up when I’m having a down day”. “I don’t know that much about her, do you?”, I asked. “Oh yes!”, she said excitedly. She got up and ran for her ipod. Returning a few minutes later she said, “See, she’s really close with her mom, too. Just like us, that’s what I like”. “Let me see what you’re looking at”, I said. She passed me her ipod where she had pulled up www.TaylorSwift.com. On the homepage was what looked like a letter from Taylor Swift to her fans. It mentioned that her favorite number was 13, that she was close with her mom, that she’d grown up on a Christmas Tree Farm in Pennsylvania...Interesting things like that. “Maybe we could get her cd from the library?”, I asked her. “That would be great!”, said Page smiling at me again. “Ah-ha”, I thought smiling to myself. I was so happy to do something that would make our house feel happy and normal again! I looked up the library website to place an order. It turned out that there was a lot of info about Taylor Swift at the library. “Wow!”, I thought, “She’s got a couple cd’s”. So I ordered them all. We anxiously waited for ‘Taylor’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Speak Now’, ‘Speak Now World Tour Live’ and ‘Sounds of the Season’ cd’s to be ready for pickup. While we waited, I got a test result back from one of my doctor visits. They’d found Melanoma cancer on my ankle. At the time of the doctor’s call, I didn’t know what Melanoma was. I thought it was just a not-a-big-deal, simple, skin cancer. I readied for my appointment. “We need to schedule immediate surgery”, was the first thing my Dermatologist said. Marc and I looked at each other. “It’s really that bad?” I asked. “Yes”, was her response. “Melanoma can translocate through your body by the lymph nodes. We need to remove it immediately as this type of cancer can spread quickly. She referred me to a plastic surgeon, and my surgery was scheduled for the next day. It was an outpatient procedure at a local hospital. I was given an IV, strapped to a table with my arms spread, and then given anesthesia. I could interact with the staff, and hear things, but I wasn’t very coherent in my replies. I also, luckily, couldn’t feel anything they were doing. Afterwards, I fully awoke in a darkened waiting area. I was given cookies and a coke, and watched for side effects. After a couple hours, I was given crutches and told that the doctor had successfully removed all the Melanoma cancer from my right ankle. I was relieved to hear that it had not spread. Soon after that, I was released. Recovery was slow, there were multiple doctor visits and stages of stitches removal, but it was a good feeling dealing with a cancer that could be cut out and removed. I asked if the Melanoma had been the cause of my weird symptoms. I was told, “no”. It took a month before I could walk without the crutches, but, luckily, while couch bound, Page and I had a new, happy hobby to entertain ourselves with: Taylor-Time :) Page’s Taylor Swift cd’s had arrived. She excitedly played them for me, one after the other, after the other, for days. We’d snuggle together, and watch the first snows of the season swirl around outside the windows, while we practiced singing all the words. She noticed certain differences in the writing of the words within the cd papers, and figured out they were Taylor’s secret messages to her fans. Hours were spent happily decoding them. After my naps, she’d proudly show me her results. I noticed that Page was starting to look like Page again. By now we were closing in on Christmas. I was still so exhausted and awful feeling from my original cancer and chemo, plus now I couldn’t walk well from my second cancer surgery. Days, other than our ‘Taylor-Time’, as we came to call it, were pretty bleak. I thought of looking up to see if Taylor might have a fan club Page could join. I’d remembered when I was younger you could sign up for things like that. I thought perhaps they’d send her a button for her jacket or a simple autograph, something we could surprise her with. I found an address online and sent off a letter. Each day, Marc would bring in the mail and I’d eagerly look up. Nope, nothing today. Oh well, I thought, maybe I didn’t have the right address, or it just takes awhile. We decided to get her a Taylor Swift wall poster for a Christmas surprise. Not knowing where to look for such a thing, I turned to my old reliable ebay. (I’m sorry Taylor, I was new at this time to buying stuff on the internet, plus my brain was all fuzzy...now of course we only shop on your taylorswift.com website :) I typed in ‘Taylor Swift’, and good gravy there were a lot of items! Scrolling through item after item I didn’t know what to get. Marc and I finally decided on a close up one of Taylor smiling. It was going to be perfect. Christmas arrived, and I still hadn’t heard back from the Fan Club. Luckily the poster was a huge hit! As Santa had given it to her, Page shrieked as she opened her stocking, and then held it up for us to see. Just as she proudly stood there with it unfolded for us to take a picture, Page’s dog decided to check it out for herself. Balancing on her hind legs, Suzie gave the poster a quick lick right across Taylor’s face!! Tears sprang from Page’s eyes, but I’m happy to say, the poster was saved. To this day it still proudly hangs, just a little bit dog slobbery, on her bedroom wall. January came and went, and Page and I continued with our ‘Taylor-Time’. We rented all the books and DVD’s on Tay we could find from the library. It really was, and is, a good bonding time we’ve shared. Plus, the more I learned, the happier I felt that Page was looking up to a good role model. It was amazing to find out all the similarities Page had with Taylor. They were both blonde, tall, liked to read, liked to write, loved horses and cats, couldn’t see without their glasses, liked to play Scrabble, eat gummies, eggs and cheesecake, bake, do kind things for others, and most importantly, be close with their families. We watched on the show ‘60 Minutes’ about when Taylor wasn’t much older than Page, how she and her mom passed out demo cd’s in Nashville, trying to get Taylor into her dream job of singing. We read about when Taylor was starting out and how she passed out homemade chocolate chip cookies to radio stations. We read about all the people Taylor helps through charity organizations and even privately visits with (please see my website to see a list of these items: http://www.lotsoflifeonalittlelot.com/thank-you-taylor-swift.html) . Page would say things like, “We must be related, don’t you think, Mom?”. She thought of Taylor like a best friend, close cousin or sister. Someone that she could always count on. Our days slowly crept past. My health was not improving, and with what strength I had, I split it between more doctor’s visits, reading about alternative therapies for cancer, and ‘Taylor-Time’ with Page. Each minute of every day, felt like it could be our last together. I couldn’t believe how our life had changed. I still hadn’t heard anything back from my first fan letter inquiry, so I tried sending another. One of those slowly creeping by days, all 3 of us, watched the DVD video for the Speak Now Tour. Marc and I had debated if Page was old enough to watch a concert, as we weren’t sure what all it would show. We decided to give it a try, so we all snuggled in with our popcorn, blankets and pets, and hit play. Page was mesmerized. She sang every song and started dancing around the room. When it ended, she said “Woo...That wore me out! Taylor must get pretty tired if she has to do that every night!” A few minutes later, she added, “Mom, can we send her something to help her, like she helps me?” I just looked at her. She was so caring and generous, and beautiful and kind. Smiling at her, I said, “Of course we can. I think that’s a great idea”. We called it ‘Page’s Taylor Swift Care Kit’. The next day Page and I started diligently trying to figure out what sort of item we should send to Taylor. Page thought we should send something ‘13’ related as that was Taylor’s favorite number. “Perfect”, I said, “Any other ideas?” “What if we send her 13 things that she likes and that would help her?” “Ok, what are you thinking”, I said. “I don’t know. Let’s write a list of ideas”, she answered. So we did. We leafed through books, magazines, thought of what we’d seen on DVD’s, and thought of what we’d like for someone to send us in the way of helpful items. We came up with our list. Next came shopping. We went early the next morning when I have my best energy. Here are the items we sent her: 1-canned pumpkin 2-cinnamon spice 3-pumpkin pie spice (because we’d read baking Pumpkin Bread is one of her favorite things to do) 4-super soft socks (to wear when she worked out) 5-pretty soft yarn (we read she likes to knit) 6-a book called ‘The Notebook’ (it’s one of my favorites, and because she loves a good love story) 7-Toy Story gummies (we’d read she liked those) 8-Cat Treats (for her beloved cat, Meredith) 9-Big Red gum (in honor of her upcoming RED tour) 10-Vitamin C (to help keep her strong and healthy) 11-Throat Lozenges (in case her throat got sore from singing) 12-A vanilla scented candle (to make her hotel rooms on tour smell comfy like home) Plus we bought a super cute sparkly heart bag to pack them all in. After that, home we went. While Page worked on packaging, plus making a homemade card and the 13th item (a special collage of pictures of Page for Taylor), I worked on finding another address to try to send it to. I should confess here that I’m a bit of a detective. Not a real one. I’ve just really always loved to solve mysteries. It probably stems from the fact that at about Page’s age I read all the Nancy Drew books, in order, from our local library. So thinking of this as just another mystery, I went to work trying to solve it. I found an address I thought would work. We boxed up the gift bag and decorated the outside of the box, too. We wanted whoever got it, to know right away that it was ‘Page’s Taylor Swift Care Kit’. Page at this point still didn’t know anything about how I’d been trying to reach Taylor. This ‘Care Kit’ was purely a from-Page’s-heart gift for her friend. Since Page didn’t know that I was trying to reach Taylor, after Page went to school I slipped in another letter I’d written, then mailed the package. I’d decided to move on from just trying for Page to be in a Fan Club. Now more than ever, I really wanted Taylor, herself, to know how much she meant to Page, and to thank her for how much she was helping my daughter cope with my illness. As the winter went on my illness constantly reminded all of us how short life really is. Marc and I wondered, “Was this all we were going to accomplish in life? Was this all we would remember?” We decided we’d like to try to take Page on a Spring Break trip of her choosing. Something fun. I’d do as much as I could, and we’d enjoy just being together. We decided to ask her that night what she’d like to do for a ‘Dream Come True’ vacation. We thought she’d say something like, “Let’s go to Disney”. But, she said, “Can I meet Taylor?” Looking over her head at my husband the thought, “Oh boy” crossed between us, but when I looked back down at her, what came out of my mouth, with a smile, were the words, “Let’s try!” The smile that crossed Page’s face is one I’ll never forget..... *Thank you for reading along with me 😊 This is an excerpt from my memoir 'Dream Accomplished: A Story of Cancer, A Mother's Love & Taylor Swift'. It is © & published. Paying forward Taylor's kindness, my family donates ALL book profits to help others battling illness. For more info, pls visit http://www.dreamaccomplished.com OR if you'd like a FREE ebook, pls send me a DM or email at ourtaylorstory@gmail.com I'm happy to send you 1 :)