A request for Travis's family's thoughts and feelings about his relationship with Taylor, told from their POVs.
Donna
They say it's easier to "let go" of boys than if you're a parent of a girl and I guess in some way, that's true. Both of my boys were relatively independent and on their own long ago, stopped sharing so much of their personal life (not that they'd shared all that much in the first place, even though we were always close) and only clued me in if whoever they were seeing started to become serious. Which was fine with me...all I wanted, just as I'd imagine any mother wants, was for them to be happy with whatever they were in their lives. They both excelled career wise and love was the icing on the cake.
Travis tended to be a bit of a wild card, more so than Jason. He dated around, didn't really have too many long term relationships growing up. He was more focused on sports and having a good time with his buddies. He was never disrespectful towards women, not that I've ever been aware of, but there was never one steady girl around.
I wasn't surprised when Jason met Kylie and married her and even less so that they had their first child not long after. Jason had always been the type to settle down, looking for that one special person. Of course, I wished that for Travis, too, though I mainly kept it to myself. I never wanted to be the kind of mother who "butted in." That's just not me.
So, when he introduced me to Kayla and they made it clear they were in a long term thing, I was slightly off guard. Nothing against her, she was a lovely girl and I liked her; we all did. It was clear, though, after a while, she just wasn't the one for Travis. His happiness seemed like a rollercoaster the entire time they were together; up and down and when they finally ended things for good, he looked incredibly relieved.
If someone had told me six months ago that my youngest son would be not only dating one of the biggest stars in the world which he reached out to when no one else thought it was possible, but that he's never been happier or more compatible with someone, I don't think I would've believed them...would've been too out there.
"Mommy, I met someone," was how he told me over the phone the third week of August. "I wanna introduce her to you."
This, I knew, had to be headed into serious territory, if Travis wanted me to meet her. I didn't want to press him for more information than he was ready to give me.
"I'd love to meet her, Trav. Is she planning on coming to the game next month?"
"Yeah, she is. She'll actually be in a few days beforehand, if you have some time."
"I'm excited for you, honey. You sound really upbeat."
"She's amazing, Mama. That's all I can say...she's funny and so sweet. I think you're gonna like her."
I got the feeling there was something else, just from the sound of his voice, but I just waited for him to tell me. I've learned over the years with my boys, if I pressed for details, they clammed right up.
"So, funny story," he began and boy, I knew I was about to hear a tale. "Do you remember the whole thing where I went to the Taylor Swift concert and then I was joking around on the podcast saying I was butthurt because I wanted to give her a bracelet with my number on it and she didn't want to talk to me? Couple of weeks ago now..."
"Mhmm, yeah, I remember you mentioning that."
I waited for him to explain what that had to do with anything or who he was seeing. Maybe, I figured, he'd met someone at the concert. I also remembered we'd all kind of laughed about it afterwards, that Trav was cute, shooting for the stars, but the likelihood of it actually happening was slim to none.
