Fourteen hours. I waited for 14 hours. The scorching hot sun beamed on my face, leaving an intense sunburn, and I survived on only a granola bar and a bottle of water for 14 hours.

August 11th, 2013

4 A.M.
Shiney silver gates lined both sides of the loading dock. The giant tour buses plastered with Taylor Swift’s face taunted us. To our surprise, we weren’t the first ones to arrive. Naturally, at first sight, we saw them as competition. Andrea and Jake had been there since

3:30 A.M. We exchanged information, and techniques we’d found to get noticed. We became a team. The four of us were determined to watch Taylor from the front row. After our extensive research, we learned Taylor picks a select few dedicated fans to watch her concert from the front row. Our 3-D light up sign stood out among the others.
My mom told me I had strong will power. If I put my mind to something, there was no stopping until I achieved my goal. And front row at the Taylor Swift concert in Soldier Field was my goal.

10 A.M.
We learned Taylor’s mom was the one giving out passes for this tour.We copied Taylor’s signature red striped shirt and black skirt outfit with red keds. People shuffled past us. The sun shined brighter on our faces. And other fans waited outside the loading dock with their vibrant home-made t-shirts and signs with catchy slogans. To every person who walked by we asked, “Have you seen Taylor?” People shook their heads and laughed. But we never gave up.

4:30 P.M.
A security guard approached us, asking if he could have a word. He was the head of the event. Slightly nervous, we agreed. Strict and seriously, he told us, “I told Taylor’s mom that you’ve been here since 4:00 A.M. I don’t know if that will do anything, but I tried.”
We tried our best to hold in our excitement and thanked him sincerely.

6:30 P.M.
We were the only ones around our nosebleed seats standing. Suddenly, we saw a blonde woman surrounded by security guards staring at us from the entrance. We recognized her as Taylor’s mom. She signaled for us to come over by her. And, we ran over with giant smiles on our faces.
“You guys look like you’re having a lot of fun. How would you like to come watch the concert with me in the front row?” she asked calmly.

Yes. This was it. We screamed and gathered our stuff to follow her. We walked with shaky knees backstage where she directed us to our new seats. We did it. We touched Taylor’s hand and got to try on her hat. It was unreal.
“I’m not surprised at all,” my mom said when I called her telling her we had made to the front row again.

People told me it couldn’t be done. We’d been through this journey before and were moved to front row at Taylor Swift at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee the year before. Everyone told us we got lucky. They told us not to get our hopes up this time around. After all, Solider Field is two times as big as the Bradley Center. But those people were my motivators. I had to prove it was too much work to be classified as luck.

Fourteen hours. Fourteen hours we sat there no matter what happened. Fourteen hours proved we were not lucky but determined.