Holidays tend to bring out the emotional side of people. I’m no different in that regard. But on an average day, I’m a little more ‘sensitive’ than your average dude, I drift into a mushy ball of tears around Christmas. I think a lot about the years that have past and the years that are ahead of me. The past is littered with the successes and failures of my choices. It’s also marked with the additions and losses in the family.


It’s funny how the additions and subtractions of the past create a new path for the future. The more you think about what the future holds, you begin to realize what will be missing as you move forward. That begins to pain you to the core. Because all you are is where you’ve been, you can’t help but get caught in a cycle of feeling disappointment in the results. Then, you step back, gain composure, and realize that the additions are intricately intertwined to the losses. It’s a universal balance, with subtraction comes addition. And with pain and disappointment comes peace and elation.


If it’s one thing I’ve learned in my limited years on this planet, it’s to innocently accept the fortune and the fate you are dealt. You are never given any more than you should have and you will have no more pain than you can deal with.

How do I segway into the final chapter of this trilogy? Well, it’s about thankfulness and it’s about ears and it’s about my boys. Being able to hear their laughter, complaints, and fighting are just one of the beauties that were born from disappointment and loss only a few years earlier. This final chapter is about being thankful for being able to hear the universe remind me about the balance. That reminder is in the simple form of what emotions ‘sound’ like. Music.


I think about my successes and none are larger than my two boys. And while struggling with the loss of my little brother and listening to one of our favorite groups, a kismet moment occurred. A song. W music, its enjoyment, and interpretation are unique to each listener, the song is a simple message from a parent to a child about moments in time. We take those moments for granted too often. Then they’re gone.

Harlow’s Song:
When you close your eyes and go to sleep tonight, I'll be right outside your door
Dreams will come and they'll take you away, let them bring you back to me

And tomorrow when you wake I'll be next to you, the protection from the day
When the tears fall down your face like morning dew, I'll be there to put a smile on your face

and I'll say;

I don't wanna live this life without you, I don't wanna spend the night without you
I don't wanna know what it's like, I can't dream without you. I can't dream without you.

Let your fire burn bright for the world to see, you are the better part of me
When you hold my hand I swear that I believe, I'm living in my wildest dreams

and I see,

I don't wanna live this life without you, I don't wanna spend the night without you
I don't wanna know what it's like, I can't dream without you.

Flowers for your hair
Rainbows for your eyes to see
Your dreams are everywhere
To carry you away from me
Away from me someday
Away from me someday

I don't wanna live this life without you, I don't wanna spend the night without you
I don't wanna know what it's like, I can't dream without you.

I don't wanna live this life without you, I don't wanna spend the night without you
I don't wanna know what it's like, I can't dream without you.

The song isn’t unique in its context or its message. Parent loves child, parent misses child when grown up. The uniqueness of the music is the moment when it hits you and you actually ‘hear’ it. That’s what happened to me. I was sitting there thinking about my next entry and thinking about the kids. I was down right emotional about the holidays coming up and doing as much as I could for them while still retaining any disciplinarian strength I had left.

Good Charlotte, while being pop-punk, is one of my guilty pleasures when it comes to music. The latest record, “Cardiology,” would’ve been my review for New Music Monday, but I opted to span a trilogy of thankfulness instead. “Cardiology” is the most mature album from Good Charlotte to date. Both in musical experimentation and lyrical content. The lead singer, Joel Madden, is now a married father and the music reflects the growth into adulthood.

“Harlow’s Song” was written about his baby girl. I think all parents can relate to the message at any time in their parenthood. But I think younger parents have a harder time grasping what the future will hold for them as parents of adult children following their dreams. For me, I find a lot of frustration in listening to my children scream and run like headless chickens throughout my house. At times, I can’t wait to put them to bed and having some quiet. As younger parent, you forget that these nights are finite and all too soon they’ll be a fading memory of noise in a quiet house when your two sons are married and out in the world with out you as their security blanket.



So I’m not only thankful for the nights when my children eat their dinner effortlessly, but I’m thankful for the nights when I could rip their arms off and beat them senseless until they submit to my pleas of silence or at least dull the roar. I’m equally thankful for my ears which allow me to hear the entire sound spectrum of them. And then, I’m thankful for what emotions sound like. That is music and being able to hear it at the precise moment in time. The timeline of life is less about the hours and days as they pass through our hands and more about the little moments that span from beginning to end during our existence.