Ryen's Perfect 10

When I turned ten years old, my parents took me to the airport saying that we were seeing my dad off. (Being a doctor, it wasn't that uncommon for him to travel occasionally for seminars and things.) When we got to the airport, my dad gave me a hug and my mom gave me a plane ticket. My first thought was that they were sending me away because they didn't want me anymore. True story. Once I realized my mom was coming with me, I felt a little better. It was my first time flying and I remember looking out the window and just being in awe. I still feel that way when I fly. My mom took me to Florida to spend some time with my grandpa and I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world. I promised myself I would continue that tradition with my own children someday. Now, here I am, the mother of my own 10-year-old.

We gave Ryen the choice of a trip anywhere in the US...or she could see Taylor Swift in concert here in Detroit. She considered going to Utah to see her relatives and have some fun, but Taylor won out in the end. I bought the tickets, her dad booked the hotel, and she excitedly counted down the days.

On Ryen's birthday, she asked me to bring donuts to her class instead of cake or cupcakes. She was so excited! Later that night, she chose Applebee's for dinner and got her favorite- brownie bites, for dessert. She opened presents on our front porch when we got home and was elated with the things everyone picked out for her. She got a Kidz Bop CD, some new dresses, earrings, cards and gifts from each of her grandmas (including sweet Lona), and a big bucket full of her favorite snacks and things for our weekend together. It seems like there were some other things, but I can't remember. She was so happy and felt so loved. It was really sweet. Oh, and that reminds me! After school, Madelyn sneakily went out to our mailbox and put a card in it that she had written for Ryen. It was the most tender thing. She and Ally love their big sister so very much.

The next morning, we got up and packed for our trip and then headed to Aunt Caity's. She was so kind to watch Maddie and Ally for us while Sonny was at school. From there, it was on to Ford Field!

When we first got there, we were pretty early so we walked around the stadium and checked things out. Ry got to see all of the tour buses and was pretty stoked about that. I bought her a t-shirt and she got a light up baton with her own money. We waited with a crowd of crazy fans for a chance to meet Taylor, but Ryen threw in the towel after about an hour of clapping for random security guards and stagehands who passed by on golf carts.

When it was about half an hour before the concert was supposed to start, we made our way to the proper gate, waited in line, got frisked, had my bag checked, got to the doorway, and then we were told that "paper tickets" had to go to a different gate. So...we went to that gate, did it all over again, and then we were sent to ANOTHER gate. That happened to us four times and I could tell poor Ry was worried. I asked to speak with someone in charge and found out that there was a miscommunication with the event staff and everything was all messed up. Since we had floor seats, we needed special wrist bands and no one had the bands so each gate kept sending us to a different gate. In the end, we were personally escorted through the stadium, to two more gates, and then finally scanned in, given wristbands, and escorted to our seats. Whew! It was wild! But can I just say...our seats were AWESOME!!!!! Holy moly!!! We were just a few rows from the stage and just off center. They were the best seats in the place! Ryen was floating on AIR and I was so excited for her.  That girl's face was beaming brighter than all of the stage lights!  We payed a thousand dollars for a pretzel and some popcorn and then counted down the minutes until the show began.

First up was a country singer named Brett Eldredge.  Ry was just excited to have someone finally performing on that stage and was so giddy and wrapped up in the whole thing.  It was adorable.  She stood there waving her baton back and forth and got into every single song.  I was so busy enjoying her that I honestly barely paid attention to the singer.  Next up was the most annoying Bieber wannabe I ever did see.  Ha!  He was so dang annoying to this mama, but of course to a 10-year-old he was a complete hunk of burnin' love.  I puked in my mouth a little, but ignored it because my little girl was in total heaven.  The things we do for our kids, right?  The third act was the one I was personally most excited about.  Ed Sheerhan.  Man, that kid is wicked talented.  I have so much respect for musicians who are real artists- as they seem to be more and more rare.  His performances were incredible.  He had these devices on stage with foot pedals and he would play something on his guitar or drum on his guitar and record it by pushing down the pedal and then loop it.  He did the same thing with vocal parts.  I don't know if the people watching had any clue how much talent it took to produce the music they were hearing, but it was genuinely quite astounding.  I'm a huge fan of his talent, but not as much a fan of his music.  His style just isn't always appealing to me because he likes to sing about a thousand words as quickly as possible in a lot of his music...so I feel like I'm listening to some bizarre kind of Irish rap or a singing auctioneer.  Still, I've always been impressed by him and was even more so after seeing him live.  (You can see/hear him using the technique I described here- and also sample his less-played-on-the-radio speed singing style.)  Ry liked him and got especially excited over his "radio songs."  :)



Okay.  So the pre-show is over and there is nothing left to do but sit and squeal and do that excited girl clap thing and pray to heaven that Taylor will come on stage before Ryen explodes like a popped balloon filled with confetti.  So that's what we did.  And then...finally...the stadium got dark and the monitors went crazy and the lights went crazy and 50,000 excited fans went crazy and Miss Ryen Olivia's life was made.



I will never forget the look of sheer elation on that girl's face as I hoisted her up in my arms so she could perfectly see her dream come true.  Throughout the entire concert, she sang along word for word as her favorite singer performed song after song that Ry has listened to at home thousands of times.  She was wowed over and over again by the songs and the scenes and the outfits and the dancers and most of all, Taylor herself.  The look of incredulous joy on Ryen's face throughout the night is something I will never forget as long as I live.  At one point, Taylor crossed the stadium floor not far from us and went to the back where a stage was raised and she performed a few songs from there.  I was so hoping she would come back the same way so that Ry could give her five or something, but she went around the side of the field.  When she got close to the front again, I had Ry wiggle out of our row and up to the front to intercept her.  It was a huge dream of Ryen's to actually get to meet her and I knew that was probably her closest chance.  Good thing she's still young and small because she could zip around the crowd pretty easily.  She got within inches of Taylor, but didn't actually touch her.  On one hand, I'm so sad about that because I know how much it meant to her.  But on the other hand, I know the reason she didn't get to give Taylor a high five was because Ryen is too polite to shove in front of people.  Can't say I'm not kind of proud of her for that.  So I told her it would be our little secret and she could just tell people that she touched Taylor's hand.  :)  I'm pretty sure that story has evolved into a full on T-Swift hug out, but whatever.  Ha!  Sweet Ryen.  It was still so thrilling for her.



The final song was Ryen's favorite because it was a huge production.  Taylor up on a lift with fireworks and then a massive downpour of confetti.  It left Ryen reeling and her smile was so big, I was afraid she was going to swallow her own ears.

When the concert finally ended (it was really long and really late), I could tell Ry was super tired, but seriously, she didn't miss a beat the entire show.  Even though she was pooped, she was just so happy and had a total joy buzz.  She ran around collecting confetti and just kept saying, "This is the best day of my life!!!!!"





We headed to our hotel and it was really nice.  Sonny did an awesome job.  We snuggled in together and watched a little TV.  Ry was just too high on the drugs that are wonder and elation to settle her exhausted self into a fitting slumber.  Silly, happy girl.  She finally fell asleep holding her light-up concert baton and, most certainly, dreaming of Taylor Swift.

The next day, I took Ryen to her favorite store on the planet so she could spend her birthday money.  She may not love Justice as much as Taylor, but definitely close.  She excitedly tried on lots of things and kept calculating her money in her head and then finally settled on a new shirt and a tank top to under things and a pair of silver and white sandals.  She was so so so excited about that.  Ryen at Justice is like a monkey at a banana farm.  Next, she wanted to purchase an electronic password journal.  She got the earlier model on an earlier birthday and had been saving her money for months to get the new and improved one.  So funny.  She had just enough money left to buy that and seriously about ripped my arm off, pulling me from the toy isle to the front of the store.

Ryen's 10th birthday was incredible.  It was everything she loves and everything she has ever dreamed of, all together.  I couldn't even count how many times she hugged me and kissed my cheek and told me that she was the luckiest girl in the world.  She must have thanked me a million times.  With all of that excitement and all of those thrilling things for our sweet 10-year-old, I have to say that my own favorite part of our weekend together was the ride home.  We took turns asking each other questions and I loved that uninterrupted time with my beautiful girl, just listening to her share her thoughts and feelings about anything and everything.  She is such an amazing mixture of silliness and heart.  I am so enormously blessed to be this child's mother.  I am so proud of her and the truly amazing person she is.

I love you, Ryno Buffy Pickle Hastings.