Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

I Heard You

What happens when your world crashes down in a blink of an eye? Major Fluff!

It was a normal day, a boring day, truth be told. The Eras tour was on hiatus for two months and I was finally getting some well-deserved downtime. The move to Kansas City was easy, we'd been planning it for months. When Travis first moved in the house was largely empty given the increase in size from his previous home. He asked me to work "my magic" since he loved my decorating style. But I didn't want it to feel like it was "ours" not just his or mine. So, over the last year or so I had worked with a couple of decorators to start filling up the space while I was on tour. They would send me pictures and mockups, which I would look at and share with Travis. And of course, on our travels, I spotted several really great pieces that would mark special memories for both of us.

It had been about three weeks since I was back in Kansas City. The cats had been enjoying exploring their new surroundings, well maybe not Olivia, but she was getting better. Travis' dogs weren't here yet due to the arrangement he had with his ex, Kayla. I hadn't met her yet, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before I would. I wasn't particularly concerned, Travis hadn't said much about her, and there hadn't been any drama concerning the dogs, so far so good.

I worked in the detached garage on about twenty stacked packed boxes that had come from my other properties and some where Travis' from the original move. I wanted to go through everything to see if there were any knick-knacks of Travis' that I could put throughout our new home.

"Our new home," the thought made me pause and smile as I pulled what seemed like the sixth Sea Isle Beer Bowl commemorative mug out of one of Travis' boxes. I wore my grubbiest shorts that I had used for painting a few days ago, and an old sweatshirt. The look on Travis' face was priceless as he walked into the house after practice a few days ago, and into one of the spare rooms, to find me and the painting crew rolling paint on the walls together – paint droplets in my tied up hair and me joking with them that I could do this with a broken heart – singing and prancing around to the choreography of the tour using the long paint rolling handle as a prop. Travis immediately joined into help.

"You know if you were going to do the work yourself, we could have saved a bunch of money." Travis commented, putting this arm around my waist, and taking the paint roller from me.

"That's what we told her, sir" the older painter stated bluntly to Travis, but with a smile. "Well, she's a very hands-on kinda girl, so it's useless to fight if she wants to get involved" Travis replied with a slight smirk. The painter nodded in agreement and went back to working the paint roller in his hand.

"You make it seem like I am unreasonably stubborn" I commented to Travis. "Not unreasonably, no.... but stubborn, oh yeah." Travis replied. "I just know what I want...and what better way to make sure it happens is to be a part of the process" I stated with a flip of my hair. "Alight now." Travis replied.

The memories we were creating in this house were so magical; we had been engaged for a while but chose not to announce it to the world. "This is our place; we make the rules" had literally become a call to action for us and my PR team. It was sometimes frustrating for both of us because of the constant speculation; some said announce and the pressure would be off, but then the counter argument was then the "clock" starts clicking on when the wedding was going to happen. That would be the next "hunt" and I, we, didn't want that. The entire family was onboard and only our closest friends knew. For us that was all that mattered.

My days were filled even though I wasn't working on new material. Between the house, wedding planning, and just managing a huge company, there was still a lot to do. Plus, I was getting more involved in the Chiefs Kingdom WAG events. The WAG community is one I could definitely embrace. I knew my presence could become a distraction and I didn't want to be that. It was a delicate balance to navigate, but so far nothing crazy had happened yet. But it was a constant concern of mine – I didn't want to be treated special, I just wanted to be involved, fade in the background for once, and just enjoy the pleasure of helping people.