My Favorite Memory

The light wind blew the wind chimes outside. The sound quieted my nerves. I swooped my long ponytail behind my bare back. My maid of honor handed me my bouquet and lifted my fiery red wedding dress (It’s non-traditional, but it’ll make sense later) at the end so that I could step into my heels. The room we were in had a beautiful large window and the sun peared on me as if giving me it’s blessing. The window was cracked and a bee snuck in and buzzed it’s way to my bouquet and plopped on a flower. My brides and I giggled. I wondered what secrets a little bee could hold. I breathed in the floral scent. I smiled. This was it. It was love at first sight when I found my hunny. I had searched for him for a long time. He’s my heart’s true love.

I never would’ve imagined falling in love with the prestigious Zachary Taylor; a stand up man that wanted his nation and life to go in an only upward direction. However, that’s not to confuse him with Zachary Taylor who served as the 12th President of the United States. I’m actually referring to actor and singer Tristan Wilds who played a character named Zachary Taylor in the movie A Secret Life of Bees. After I watched the movie in 2008, I fell in love with Tristan Wilds and would daydream about him being my husband all of the time. I loved reading, and I begged my mom to buy me the book after watching the movie on replay. She finally succumbed to my request.

My family knew just how borderline obsessed I was with my celebrity crush. I would tell them all the time that I would meet him one day. They would always laugh. No one ever believed me. Good thing, I didn’t tell them about all of the wedding scenarios I kept in my head. I didn’t have a plan on how I was going to meet him, but I believed in my heart’s desire. Once I was in high school, I made up my mind that I was going to go to college for filmmaking. My family would laugh at me and say that I was only going to school for that so that I could meet Tristan Wilds one day. Although I really wanted to meet him, he was not the reason behind what I wanted to do in life. Hey, I said I was only borderline obsessed!

The day my life unexpectedly changed was a random night in November of 2013. This night led up to the next day being the best day ever in my life. I was in my freshman year of college. My roommate and I were sitting in my blue and green themed room that was full of pictures from back home. We were scrolling through social media because we were bored. All of a sudden, Jada gasped and screamed. “What?” I concernedly asked. That’s when she excitedly told me that Tristan Wilds posted on Instagram that he was in Philadelphia and was at Ishkabibbles. We immediately threw our hoodies on and went on a trek to find the love of my life. Neither of us are from Philadelphia, so it was very hard trying to find the restaurant. When we finally made it to South Street, we passed countless stores and eateries, but none of them were the cheesesteak joint that we were looking for. We never ended up finding him, but it was fun nonetheless. We made vlog style Snapchat stories in the rain with our hoods up updating our followers on our progress. It was a lot of fun looking for him with my roommate and documenting everything, so it was not a total let down.

The next day, Jada was back in my bedroom. I was doing homework and listening to music. I had a tall mirror in my room that everyone loved to stare in and take selfies. Jada was checking herself out in the mirror and scrolling through Instagram once again. She gasped and screamed again, like the day before. I jumped and asked her what was wrong. “Tristan Wilds is across the street at Macy’s signing autographs!” she practically yelled. We jumped up and left immediately. Life felt so surreal at that time. My favorite celebrity was literally across the street from me, and I was about to meet him like I had been dreaming of since middle school. I was so scared that I would miss him, I threw my hair in a ponytail, and I put on my red Nike hoodie and sneakers. It wasn’t a dress to impress outfit.

We waltzed into a Macy’s Christmas Wonderland. There was Shawn Mendes, fans, shopping bags and the Christmas spirit. We watched some of Shawn Mendes.s performance and then made our way back to the autograph line and I almost cried when I saw Tristan’s face with my own literal eyes. In the moment of speaking, hugging and taking a picture with him was magical. Instead of a fiery red wedding dress, it was a red hoodie. Instead of a bouquet, I had a signed autograph and his debut CD. Instead of my maid of honor holding up my dress, I had my roommate taking our picture. It was better than I could ever have imagined.

Yes, I was beyond excited, happy and all of the other similar emotions, but it was also a teaching moment for me. I can literally do anything I put my mind to, even if no one believes in my vision. To this day, Tristan Wilds interacts with me on social media. That’s why this is my favorite memory. I achieved the “impossible”. And plus he smelled really good! He’ll always be my Zachary Taylor.