Taylor Swift makes dream come true for Kathleen man

Kerk Murray can’t shake the grin off his face.

The Kathleen man has plenty to smile about, although some might scoff at the “T Swift” license plate on his souped-up black Hellcat Challenger with the roaring engine.

“I don’t care,” Murray said Friday before heading to his shift as district manager of Waffle Houses in Perry. “Her music is always fun. I like a lot of music, but I don’t like a lot of artists.”

A selfie of him singing “Shake It Off” while cruising down the road in the Dodge caught the singer’s eye in February.

She liked his post on the blogging platform Tumblr, where users can post text, photos, videos and more.

“I woke my wife up. ‘Oh my gosh, Taylor Swift actually knows who I am,’ ” he said. “For 43 seconds I made Taylor Swift smile.”

Murray is a Swift social media fanatic.

“I tag Taylor in everything. If I’m eating oatmeal, I tag Taylor. Even if it has nothing to do with her, no matter what, she’s getting tagged,” Murray said.

The payoff from that game of tag was better than winning the lottery for Murray and his wife, Crystal.

The Houston County couple and their friend, Savannah Brooks, of Milledgeville, dubbed themselves the “Georgia Swiftie Squad.”

They flew to Austin, Texas, for Swift’s only concert of the year following the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix races on Oct. 22.

Unbeknownst to him, the “Taylor Nation” team had been watching him on social media.

Crystal Murray also is a big fan. They have Swift posters in their living room, and her Toyota bears a “Swiftie” license plate.

At 2 a.m. one morning, they drove to the traffic light at Swift Street in Perry to photograph their cars and license plates under the sign at the intersection.

The Instagram post that followed tagged Swift and her entourage, of course.

Days before the concert, Murray got an Instagram message that Swift’s team wanted to meet them before the show.

In the back of their minds, they suspected they might meet the superstar, but they didn’t want to get their hopes up.

They crafted matching T-shirts nodding to Swift’s early song “Teardrops On My Guitar.”

With Swift’s picture on the front, the shirts read, “Taylor, you’re the teardrops on my credit card.”

On the back, it said: “Georgia Swiftie Squad 13.”

At the event Saturday, they were corralled into a room with about 30 other people.

They met a young girl with leukemia who received $50,000 from the singer.

Gestures like that are part of the Murrays’ attraction to the entertainer.

Suspense kept building until they saw Swift’s mother come in.

“All the girls were freaking out. I was so shocked, I couldn’t freak out,” he said.

Of all the people in the room, she hugged Kerk Murray, told him she was glad he was there and embraced their personalized T-shirts.

“Those shirts are so real,” Swift’s mom told Murray.

When the group of girls in line in front of them rounded the corner of a curtain, the screams began.

Taylor was in the house.

After hugs, Swift told the Murrays and Brooks that she was nervous since she hadn’t performed in a while.

“You’re going to do fine,’” Kerk Murray told her.

Swift admired Crystal’s “cute dimple,” he said.

After the brief chat, photo, autograph signing and another hug, the Georgia Swiftie Squad was told they were being moved to the pit in front of the stage for the concert, which drew 80,000 people to the racetrack.

The trio decided never to wash the shirts, which still hold the scent of Swift’s perfume and a dribbling of funnel cake.

Crystal Murray took the memorabilia and crafted a collage for their living room.

“It was crazy,” Kerk Murray said, looking back. “It’s still unreal that we met Taylor Swift.”

In the top moments of his 29 years, that night ranks No. 3 behind his wedding and meeting Crystal.

He’s even a bigger Swiftie now.

“Taylor is just down to earth,” he said. “If you met her on the street, you wouldn’t think she was famous, the way she carries herself.”

The meeting will have a lasting impact, Kerk Murray said.

“Now when I have a bad day, it’s OK. I met Taylor Swift.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 9:52 AM with the headline "Taylor Swift makes dream come true for Kathleen man."