Enchanted Sparkles

I've discovered a Taylor Swift song that hasn't been released as a single yet. This is how most people feel when they buy albums, which I don't do. I stumbled onto the song on iTunes when I was looking to shake up my iPod with something new. I clicked it because I loved the title, Enchanted.

Now it's my new fave, an anthem for all the best things that have ever happened and all the best things I hope to happen in the future.This night is sparkling, the lyrics say.

Don't you let it go

I'm wonderstruck

Blushing all the way home

I'll spend forever

Wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you

The song in her own words describes a night in New York City when she'd met someone new. As she rode away later, the lights of New York City sparkled, and she felt that excited rush of emotions, grateful for the new acquaintance, hopeful for the future, wondering where it might lead. And the music and lyrics capture all that so well.

The words she uses were surely minted with just that emotion in mind: Sparkling, wonderstruck, enchanted. It reminds me of a children's book I began once and how I stuffed it full of words that made me feel the emotion I was trying to capture. Words like apple and red-and-silver icing.

I love the song because it doesn't only remind me of its most literal inference - the traditional crush. It makes me think of all the good things that ever happened, all the moments in life that make the monotony worth it. The moment when I first met each of my sons. New friendships that quickly and easily move into old ones. The people and moments that left me starstruck, whether they were famous at all or simply ordinary but wonderful. And definitely, definitely, especially considering the story behind the song, it reminds me of the first time I met New York City.

I've said before that there are emotions I wish I could bottle into my writing. I'm thinking of tweaking my personal mission statement as an author to this: Write books that feel like a song by Taylor Swift. Write books that leave people feeling enchanted.