Taylor Swift, Basketball, and Parenting

Musings on Leaving the City

Let’s get out of this town, drive out of the city, away from the crowds, I thought Heaven can’t help me now, nothing lasts forever….

-Taylor Swift

Almost every single day when I drive my daughter to school, she has me play the Pandora station that has Christmas songs. I get some variety when she has me play artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. Recently, Taylor Swift’s song, “Wildest Dreams,” came on in one of the Pandora stations. As we listened to it, I started to think about what it means to “leave and come back.” My car listed 101 degrees next to the odometer the other day. In Phoenix, these numbers matter. In this city (Phx), this time of the year, if possible, signals that soon, you may have to leave the city. I will get text messages from friends again: Are you ok? I hear it is like 115 degrees every day over there and you are months in with this.

(image credit: Cody Doherty)

I have always been fascinated by the idea of the city and blocks, alleys, and the wonderings of escape but having to always realize that no matter how far you go, there you are. Like today, my mom will ask for me to take her to get some Chinese food at the spot that has goldfish in an aquarium. I will navigate highways, an overpass, the strip mall culture, palm trees will serenade the drive as will sounds: potholes, honking, and maybe someone plays music with their windows down. We will build memories.

As I leave the city a few times this summer, I will still navigate basketball metaphors and musings. Who will the Lakers get at center? Will I attend Summer League Las Vegas with my mom? I will also leave outside play when it is 110 degrees. I will seek out indoor courts. I will also romanticize things; I may once again run through my mind how good the weather was when I was in L.A. as a kid. Summer was not this hot, but other things were happening too. I was young enough to have a summer packet of homework sent home, there was boredom too.

I do not know if Taylor Swift plays basketball, but she is friends with Caitlin Clark from the Indiana Fever. I will soon attend a WNBA game with my daughter. The Phoenix Mercury are about to get going and my daughter and I have plans to attend games. When we go to games XMAS songs will once again play in the car and maybe Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter will also go through the speakers. What will we talk about? My daughter likes merch and ice cream. She may not care too much about the game. I care about the game, its lessons, and the stories.

Maybe, what I really care about is leaving the city. Basketball allows departure. You parent, drive, leave, come back, and go again. I think about family, both those that are here and those that passed. There is a shot clock. A beginning and end. I see point guards drive down the basketball court. You go from one town to another.

I never thought I would be listening to Taylor Swift after a discussion on A.I., after watering a plant, after watching a hummingbird move so fast that I thought I was “seeing things.” People also remind me that you have to go here or there. I may also need to put gas in my car and check my mail.

In the end, basketball is part pop culture like Taylor Swift. I hear a melody as players dribble and as they sell me SPRITE in tv commercials. Some teams will possibly never win NBA or WNBA championships. Nonetheless, showing up, again and again, is a reminder that many of us are continuously committed to the dreamy, struggle filled mantra of seeking to somehow capture our wildest dreams.