With "The Eras Tour" and its concert film release, 2023 has been an unforgettable year for Swifties worldwide. From new merchandise to film screenings to the scramble for coveted tickets, Taylor Swift's influence has sparked endless excitement. Ginny Blair (@saywhaaatt1) captured this shared enthusiasm in a heartfelt TikTok, where she talked about how Taylor has helped her bond with her 9-year-old daughter like never before. Blair, now 34, explained that she’s been a lifelong Swiftie, growing up with Taylor since they're the same age. Swift’s songs have guided her through tough times, and now the song “Mean” is helping her daughter cope with bullying. Blair was overjoyed when Taylor commented on her post, saying, “Taylor commenting made my daughter and I's Christmas complete," in a message to TODAY.com.
Image Source: A young fan exchanges friendship bracelets with Taylor Swift as she performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Allianz Parque on November 24, 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by TAS2023 via Getty Images)
The video addressed to Taylor Swift started as follows, “Hey Taylor… I’ve been a fan forever. We’re the same age, so I grew up with you. You, like, sang about my life growing up.” “Now, I have a 9-year-old daughter who is everything,” she said, talking about her daughter who much to her mother’s joy and pride, has taken over her as the No.1 Swiftie. Ginny Blair further shared how she and her daughter have developed a stronger bond this year, all thanks to Taylor Swift as they attended her "Eras Tour" in two different cities and watched the concert film together five times. “We got the buckets and we got the merch and we have had so much fun. And then just the other night we rented the movie and ordered a pizza and lounged and had a movie night watching ‘The Eras Tour’,” she continued.
Getty Images | Photo by Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Blair shared that she is a single mom and for her daughter to say, “I’ve had the best year with you” means a lot to her. She candidly showed her gratitude as she said, “The most fun I’ve had this year is belting in the car and watching my daughter flourish.” She continued, “I just wanted you to know that you have changed my mom-heart and have brought my daughter and I closer together.” It’s safe to say that her note reached the "Evermore" singer who commented on her video, “You just reminded me of why this year has been so special. I’m so moved by what you said. It reminds me of me and my mom and the memories we made at that age.”
"Thank you so much for sharing this,” Swift added, “Being vulnerable enough to share your true emotions is a beautiful thing. Happy Holidays.” Blair replied to the singer in a video with her daughter saying, “This isn’t real… oh my god! Thank you for being unapologetically you!” Blair also did a response video where she danced with her daughter on the "1989 (Taylor's Version)" vault track, "Is It Over Now?" making the exchange even more special.
You can follow @saywhaaatt1 on TikTok for similar wholesome content on Taylor Swift.
This article originally appeared eight months ago.
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Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.