taylor
ella age: 2
nashville, tennessee
i'm getting ready to get on stage for one of my shows for the eras tour.
i'm very excited as we're in nashville, one of my favorite cities.
"mommy!" i hear a familiar small voice
"hey baby." i stand up out of my chair in front of the vanity to greet my 2 year old daughter, ella. she was with my parents as they took her to show her around the backstage and get something to eat.
i squat down to meet her at her short height as she runs at me and wraps her arms around my neck. i lift her little body as i stand and give her many kisses on the face that causes ella to erupt into laughter.
"where's grandma and grandpa?" i ask as i brush the baby hairs out of her face that fell out of the dutch braids i attempted on her head.
"right here." my parents come into view of the door frame
"what happened to you two?" i ask confused "was she not good?" i ask alarmed
"she was perfect until i suggested we come back in here to see you before you went on. safe to say your daughter missed you." my mom states making me smile at my little mini me
"that child is one fast girl. my goodness." my dad says catching his breath. i smile at ella again but also trying not to laugh at my parents
"let's get a jacket on you, you're gonna be a bit chilly." i tell harper as it's only supposed to be like 55 degrees tonight and the stadium is outside.
"but mommy, my new pretty dress." ella says wide eyed as she looks down and touches her white flowy dress with bows tied at her shoulders keeping it up.
"i know, it's so pretty, but i brought you a jacket that won't take away from your dress." i explain and pat her chest
"nooooo" ella whines and throws her head back
after lots of going back and forth, i caved and let ella not wear a jacket tonight, but i know she will get cold. it's only early may.
"taylor, you're on in ten." my stage manager peeks his head in to tell me.
"ok baby, mommy's gotta go." i explain and she rests her head on my chest signaling for me not to go.
"aw ella, i gotta go." i state and rub her back as she doesn't move.
"c'mon here sweetie, let's go say hi to some people." my mom says and takes her from me. ella loves waving to fans and they walk to the tent
my parents and ella wish me luck and leave to get on stage.
andrea
taylor came on almost an hour ago and ella is getting a little fussy, but it's time for champagne problems and i always love to hear that she has to say for that song.
"nashville is one of my favorite places to play a show. it's like home for me, i grew up here, i live here sometimes, therefore, nashville has seen a lot of me. it saw that 14 year old girl trying to get someone to buy her demo, all the way to every single tour i've ever had. speaking of which, i haven't toured in almost five years and since then a lot has happened. not only have we've all welcome 4 new members to my musical family, but i welcomed one very special girl into my real family. my little daughter, ella is here tonight. mommy loves you so much princess." taylor states. and the crowd goes absolutely crazy.
i'm standing at the front of the tent holding ella in my arms.
"did you hear that el, mommy is talking to you." i say and she nods slowly. she stays silent for a little while as she just cuddles into me
"i want mommy." ella pouts into my chest. i can tell she's getting very tired and is about to get cranky.
"i know you do, mommy is not gonna be done for a bit." i explain and notice she's about to start crying when i say that
"no i want mommy now." she cries softly. i walk her to the back of the tent where there is a couch and i lay her little body down.
"grandma im cold." ella exclaims almost crying. i knew she was gonna get cold at some point when she refused to wear a jacket. all i have back here is some tour sweatshirts. i go over and grab a cream eras tour hoodie and put it on ella. it's hanging by her shins, but she looks so cute. she lays back down on the couch.
"go to sleep darling" i say and brush the hair out her face.
"i want mommy." ella whines again making my grandma heart hurt.
"it's ok ella. just close your eyes and listen to mommy sing, and when you wake up, it'll be time to almost see her." i explain knowing she'll wake up at the end of the show. taylor gave me her favorite blanket so i lay it over ella and wait for her to fall asleep.
soon enough i can see her breathing has slowed and she's fast asleep. luckily, this child has been accustomed to sleeping in loud environments. i go to the front of the tent again and watch taylor perform.
about an hour and a half later taylor is about two songs away from leaving the stage, so that's my cue to leave the tent. we leave before the show ends so we don't get caught up in the traffic of people leaving.
i walk over to ella who is still sleeping cuddled with her blanket.
"hey sweetie." i say and pick ella up.
"we're gonna go see mommy." i state smiling and she begins to grin from ear to ear as she rests her head on my chest
we are escorted out of the tent and to backstage. people are so focused on the show that only the people we walk right in front of notice us.
once we get backstage i know we still have about 15 minutes till taylor comes back so we wait where she'll come down the ramp. we wait a bit and see the dancers and band come out. they all wave to me and ella as we wait. a short bit later i see taylor start coming towards us.
"look ella it's mommy!" i exclaim excitedly as taylor gets to the ramp and she starts to squirm in my arms so i put her down as i know she'll run right to her mom
taylor
i just had such an amazing show. i called out to ella even though i couldn't really see her. when i was at the end of the stage, i couldn't see her with my mom towards the second half of the show probably because she was asleep. i walk off stage and only want to see my ella. all the fans that can see me starts cheering and i give them a few waves before my eyes land on my daughter.
i see my mom and ella in her arms and her whisper something to ella. ella perks her head up and sees me and gets really excited and my moms puts her down.
i get down the ramp and as ella is running as fast as her little legs can carry her. she's in one of my tour sweatshirts that is almost scraping the ground.
i squat down and open my arms. she finally reaches me and launches herself at me making me almost fall over
"hey baby." i say as i wrap my arms around her and lift her up. she warps her legs around my waist along with her arms around my neck.
i finally look up and see all the fans looking at us cheering. i wave to them again.
"sweetie, wave to everyone." i smile and she shyly waves to everyone then hides herself in my neck making me laugh.
i give everyone one last wave before i head back to my dressing room
"you tired baby?" i ask softly as we are walking and i run my fingers through her head as she rests against my chest. she slowly nods. i really wanna keep her awake till we get to the car at least.
we pass by several people back stage who congratulate me and i try to get ella to wave to them to keep her awake.
we finally make it back to the dressing room and i have ella help me pack our stuff up; just her toys, some clothes, and then some of my stuff.
my security carries our bags and stuff while i hold ella who's just about to fall asleep.
we get to the car waiting and i strap her in and then get situated myself and we are driven home and i put ella to bed.
