Shake It Off – Taylor Swift

Link to song

Now, I’m not an especial fan of Taylor Swift. Nor am I particularly a fan of this song as a song, in fact when it gets to the talking bit in the middle, I wince with embarrassment. Rather, I like one specific memory associated with this song. It involves my sister coming to stay with me for a visit a couple of years back.

I live in Cardiff, she lives in London, we both live adult lives and it is difficult to stay in touch sometimes. But we are only eight months apart in age (in actuality, she is my stepsister but that is by the bye) and we have been so close since soon after my mother and her father got together.

I sometimes feel like we live on completely different planets now. She has a job and her own life and I have my Masters degree and mine. We still have a lot of things in common but as soon as I moved away, I grew apart (however slightly) from my old life and everyone back home. It’s not something that has ever been discussed, how me and my sister have changed as we’ve grown older. But this song helped me to reassure me that we will never be that far away from each other really, no matter where life takes us.

So, my sister was coming to stay with me (this was in my second year at university, so roughly two years ago now) and I was very excited because I hadn’t seen her in so long. I had some ideas prepared of what we could do, and one of those was that we had decided to visit my favourite nightclub. Well, if having one nightclub you consider more tolerable than the rest can be considered as having a ‘favourite’.

Anyway, we had some drinks before we went out and lots of fun and laughs. The songs in the club (as far as I can remember) were as you would expect. But the real fun started when ‘Shake It Off’ came on. I didn’t really know the song too well at that point, but straight away me and my sister were dancing and singing like crazy. Inhibition just went out the window and my sister recorded us on Snapchat as the coloured lights flashed and we threw ourselves around in a combination of random dance moves.

And it was so much fun. The connection and the sisterly bond was there and it was shining brighter than the rainbow of colours filtering through the club. From there, my mood brightened infinitely, it was by far the best club experience I have had to date (and ever will have hopefully).

I cherish the memories I have of that weekend. I love my sister with all my heart and I miss being young and within a short car ride of each other. But I know we will never get that back, and that’s okay. All I have to do is put on some Taylor Swift, and I’m back in Tiger Tiger in 2014!