I love riding in the car with Lexi because she’ll often say something unexpected, especially when I don’t think she’s paying attention. I should be used to it by now, but my firstborn still has a habit of surprising me. Last week I bought the new Taylor Swift album, and like a true #swifty I’ve had it on repeat at home and in my car. I knew all the song lyrics by Day 2, so I was singing along on this particular ride. Lexi was in the back, head buried in her book, but apparently she can multi-task because she looked up and said:
“Dad, is Taylor Swift married?”
“No, honey, she isn’t.”
“Oh, good. Because I was thinking all these lyrics would be strange if she was married.”
“What do you mean, Lex?”
“Well, I mean she’s talking about being up in the club talking to boys and stuff, and I was thinking if she was married that wouldn’t be a good thing.”
“You’re right, Lex. But she’s in her 20’s, and many young people these days do what’s called dating around.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means she goes out with a boy on dates, and that’s how they figure out if they want to take their relationship further.”
“So she goes around with him? Is that why it’s called dating around?”
“Um, no. It’s because she’s dated a lot of guys that way, to see if it works out, but it hasn’t, not to this point anyway.”
“That’s why so many of her songs sound like she’s sad?”
“You got that right. Or upset. Think about ‘Shake It Off.'”
“Oh yeah. [Singing] ‘I go on too many dates. But I can’t make ’em stay.'”
“She’s talking about ‘haters’ saying she dates a lot but no one seems to want to settle down with her, to get married or something like that.”
“Dad, do you think she wants to get married?”
“Probably. Someday. But right now I think she’d just like to have a long term relationship and see where it goes from there.”
“It must be hard to be famous. People talk about everything you do, and everywhere you go, and everyone you do stuff with.”
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t want to be famous. Well, not that way anyway. I would want to be ‘book famous.'”
“What does book famous mean?”
“It means I would love for everyone to want and buy my books, so my books would be famous, but I could still go and do things without people trying to take my picture.”
“I don’t like people taking my picture either.”
“I guess I just value my privacy, and when you’re someone like Taylor Swift you really don’t have any privacy.”
“Is that maybe why some of these boys don’t want to date her anymore? Because they want their privacy back?”
“Wow, Lex, that sounds like it might be a reason. I think one of them was a musician and he was jealous of her popularity so he broke up with her. Jealousy is never good.”
“Yeah, I read about it in my books all the time. It never leads to anything good.”
“You got that right. You should be happy for other people and the praise and attention they get, not upset because you don’t have that praise and attention.”
“It must be hard to be Taylor Swift.”
“I imagine it would be. But at least she gets to do what she loves.”
“Date around?”
“No. Well, yes, but that’s not what I meant. I meant she gets to write her music, to sing her songs, and to perform in front of audiences all around the world.”
“That’s cool too. Rainbow Dash can do a Sonic Rainboom.”
“Uh…”
Sam
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