Dear Gossips,
Has it been twenty seconds or twenty years that we’ve been obsessed with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? I messaged Lainey earlier this week, imagining a scenario in which the Kansas City Chiefs go back to the Super Bowl, win, and then Travis proposes on the field. Victory!
Well, Lainey immediately ruined my Super Bowl fanfic by pointing out that Taylor will be on tour during the Super Bowl. (I am enough of a Swiftie to know the lyrics to “Lover” off the top of my head, but not enough to know her tour schedule.) (Note from Lainey: the Super Bowl is on February 11, Taylor performs in Tokyo the night before, February 10. And then she has a few days off so, in theory, given the time difference, she could get on her jet and make it to Vegas in time for the game, so Sarah’s dreams are not totally dead – and if she does that, she can own the expression “flying for cock” forever and ever.)
But it got me to thinking about Traylor, Tavis, TNT, whatever you want to call their celebrity portmanteau (I’m still stinging from losing the Zendalland/Tomdaya fight, I’m not getting involved here). Why are we so obsessed with this relationship? There are fan edits! People cannot get enough!
Well, the world sucks right now, and we love a good distraction, and we love love especially when things are bad, and Taylor and Travis are giving us a rom-com in real time. But also, I was listening to an episode of Travis’spodcastwith his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, and I had a thought—Travis is the kind of guy we wait for. I’m forty and I’m single, and increasingly people ask me why I’m not married yet. My standard response used to be “I’m waiting for a guy who doesn’t make my life worse”, but then a friend told me that was too bleak to keep saying in public. Now I say, “Just looking for a good guy who is excited about me.”
I don’t care about physical stuff, the older you get, the more that falls by the wayside. But kindness? Attentiveness? A person who doesn’t punish you or make you feel bad for the way you are? Travis Kelce is hot—so is Jason, for that matter—but what are we reacting to here? A little bit the height difference, sure, but mostly—it’s the way hepays attention to her. It’s simple gestures of chivalry, which done right, don’t make you feel patronized but important, like you matter enough to this person that they’re watching out for you, making sure you have what you need in the moment. And it’s his sense of humor, his obvious love for his family—Travis Kelce just seems likea good guy,and he is so clearlyexcited about Taylor.
Maybe he’s a secret axe murderer. We don’t really know. But the rom-com we’re watching is about a jock who’s not-so-secretly a goof winning the heart of the student class president. Taylor is having the time of her life and we’re having a good time watching her and the rom-com she and Travis are giving us, because at the end of the day, it’s the love story we want for ourselves. To be with someone who is excited to be with us, who isn’t afraid to show that enthusiasm to the world. Maybe that’s depressing? Like the state of dating, particularly hetero dating, is THAT bad? But maybe it’s also hopeful, that we don’t give up on it. That we celebrate it when we see it, because we know how rare it is.
Live long and gossip,
Sarah
