In October 2006, you released your first album and since then we have spent the last decade together. A girl at summer camp told me how you were going to be the next big thing and I listened to "Tim McGraw" and was hooked. Every other October has been graced by your lovely voice and new stories and excitement for us to share while we’ve grown up together. I spend the year in between in a somewhat Taylor Swift hangover but some of your songs are still being slow-released on the radio and you are on tour so there is enough of you to fill the time being. But this October is different.

When "Red" came out a friend and I booked it out of our high school class as the bell rang to go to Target and buy our copies. Then I listened to it endlessly until Christmas season. When you released "Shake It Off" as a single me and all three of my college roommates played it on repeat in the car the minute it came out, and when the rest of the album came out I was in Target the minute they opened. It just doesn’t seem right to buy your albums from anywhere but Target. It also doesn’t seem right to spend my fall without you when you’ve been such a staple part of my life.

I love "1989" but I can't keep listening to the same things over and over again. I would love to go back and listen to throwbacks but honestly, your resistance toward Spotify has created some distance in our relationship. It’s not that I won't buy your music but I bought "Fearless" and "Speak Now" back in middle school on my old iPod and those purchases somehow got lost wherever cyber purchases get lost when old family computers die. I also love all the old jams but I already had all the feels with those songs, I can match every song you have to someone from my past that I’ve sung it about but I’m ready for new songs and new feels.

I know you’ve been through a lot lately. People have attacked your female friendships and you just got out of the longest relationship you’ve ever been in. I’m sorry that life has been so tough lately but selfishly I’m really ready to hear about it. I know nothing fuels you more than heartbreak and I know that good song lyrics are to come from this.

This past year has been rough for Taylor Swift fans. I’ve been given a lot of crap at any mention of being a fan of yours because of how old I am. I just want you to know that it doesn’t matter, I’ve been with you through country and pop and everything in between. I don’t care if people make fun of how “white” I am. I do shop at Target, I do drink Starbucks and I do jam to you and sometimes I do all of them at the same time. I’ve been listening to you for a long time and I plan to be singing karaoke to you when I’m in my 40s. I’m here for the long haul but please come back.

Sincerely,

A loyal fan who misses you

P.S. you run the world