Saturday May 6th, 2017, my dear, handsome husband turned 40 years old. We’re getting old folks.
The girls and I had a lot of fun coming up with surprises for Nick, who BTDubs is notoriously hard to surprise. We surprised him with a trip to Perryville, MO to visit his 93 year old grandmother, who, by the way, is still just as sharp as a tack and has a better memory than people a third her age.
One of our surprises was a song that I wrote and the girls and I recorded secretly in Nick’s studio. For a few weeks I sneakily asked Nick questions about recording, pretending to be interested in a completely different recording project. Then, anytime Nick wasn’t home we’d sneak into the studio and get some recording done. There are still A MYRIAD of things I DO NOT understand about using recording software but I learned enough to put together this song.
So here it is: You Are My Song <—– That’s a link! (Duh!) But it’s also down below this cool pic, you just have to scroll a little further down.
Truth time: I’ve written over 50 songs in the last few years. I’m not really sure how many. I don’t post many of them on here for one simple reason: time. I’m a mom with a full schedule, it’s difficult to find the time to get a semi-decent take to post on here.
More truth: My husband has a very nice recording studio that I could utilize whenever I want. But I have even less time for that.
But I want to make more time for recording. And I want to make some actual good recordings.
I’m working on it, guys. Give me a break. 😉
Anyway, until I get around to making decent recordings, I’m gonna try to make more time to post my semi-decent iPhone recordings. At least you’ll get to hear those gems.
So here’s another one for you.
I’m Still Here.
But first, the backstory:
Some of you know that my mom passed away April 3, 2016 after a two year battle with cancer. I wrote this song at a time when I was trying to make sense of it all. I had been reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed (and watching the movie that was based off of the book) around the time I wrote this. Cheryl’s mother also died of cancer and her story is heartbreaking.
Anyway, there’s this scene in the movie when Cheryl has this realization. She’s been hiking the PCT for a while (Pacific Crest Trail) and she’s still hiking even though other, more experienced hikers have quit the trail due to adverse weather conditions. And she says, “Wow. Greg quit and I’m still here.” And something inside me just broke. It’s my favorite scene in the whole movie.
(The book and movie are not for children, just FYI. There are definitely some “fast-forward” scenes, as I like to call them. I’m not ashamed to admit that even though I’m 36, when a sex scene shows up in a movie I cover my eyes and make Nick fast-forward. Don’t judge me. You don’t know my story. 😉 )
Anyway, that’s where the words “I’m still here” come from. It’s this realization that even though we’ve been battered, bruised and beaten by the storms of life, we survived. We’re still alive and here and ready to take on the next day’s challenges. And even though it hurt a lot, we’re going to be ok.