"my heart stops when you look at me"

When Katy Perry’s first single came out, I was digging it. I must have still had cable at that point, because I have a vague recollection of seeing the video for ‘Kissed a Girl’ at 2am. It was fun and ever-so-slightly sorority girl naughty. I wouldn’t call it great art, but it was entertaining. ‘Ur So Gay’ was fun too, in a novelty kind of way, and as it aptly described most of my guy friends at the time, I began to develop a soft spot for Ms. Perry. After a while though, the auto-tune shine began to tarnish. I saw her sing at a couple of TV awards shows, and it was rough. You can only cringe through her stiff, lifeless “performances” so many times before you’re forced to admit: maybe she sorta sucks.

And then came the earworm “Teenage Dream.” My soft spot re-softened, not so much because Katy stopped sucking, but more because the song is just sweet. It makes me smile every time I hear it.

I met Nathan when I was 18, but I knew who he was for a few years before we ever had a true conversation. His younger sister Natalie was my age, and we were goofy youth group kids together. After an especially goofy youth church choir performance that his parents video taped, mine and Natalie’s mutual friend CeCe told me that after seeing this video, Nathan had inquired as to who I was. Oh. Ok, cool. Cece seemed unsatisfied with my lack of excitement so I asked, why is that a big deal? And her exasperated response: “because her brother is REALLY hot!” She pointed him out to me later that day and she was right. He was really hot and it WAS a big deal.

We weren’t actually introduced until a year or two later, but my crush was born that day. We found our way to each other as adults (thank you, Mark Zuckerburg!) and I stop once a day and ask myself how I got so lucky. Now I literally wake up every day to my teenage dream, and sometime I sing that damn song when I think about it.