I walked in to pick up my daughter’s graduation cupcakes, for a grad party that has now been postponed due to Covid. Over the creaking of old wooden floors, I heard Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” playing faintly from speakers in the hallway. Well played, universe.

This is the song that, when she first started listening to Taylor Swift, compelled me to have one of those mom moments and remind her, “Just remember, you never need a boy to rescue you or make you happy”. She stopped singing, looked at me, deadpan, and said, “Mom, I know that. It’s just a song”. She was right, of course — always wise beyond her years.

And this is the song that, when we saw Taylor Swift in concert a few years after that, she identified as the song she really wanted to hear. (This is a pre-concert discussion that I always make my fellow concert-goers have — What song do you really want to hear? What song will be the opener? What song do you really not want to hear?)

My daughter had said, “Oh, it’s an old song and she probably won’t play it”. But when Taylor did play it, my girl flashed me a sweet smile — she had gotten her Concert Moment, something that everyone deserves, especially when it’s their first concert.

And this song exists on our collaborative Cabin Mix, and of course on the Graduation/Colorado Mix that I had prepared for the grad party. It sits alongside many other significant songs from my daughter’s childhood, as well as some Colorado-related songs to celebrate her next adventure. (And apparently John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” is going to be a trigger song for me from now on….as I discovered on the way to Costco the other day).

Of course, there was really no way that “Love Story” would not make it onto that mix — it’s just one of my girl’s songs. And as she heads out into the world, I love knowing that it will show up for me from time to time, reminding me of the girl she once was, and the incredible young woman she now is, and it will always make me smile.