I cried in the car recently.  As everyone knows, cars have a no-crying-allowed rule.

 

My daughter has an ongoing tantrum problem, and we’ve been at wit’s end trying to figure out how to stop them, or at least shorten them.  So when Taylor told me she found something that helps her calm down, I was thrilled!  She turned on the Ipad, and played an Alicia Keys song called “Never Felt This Way”.  The song is about someone she loves, and how all she needs is that person in her life.  Taylor told me the song reminds her that all she needs are her parents, and that keeps her calm.

 

I told her that I have a song that reminds me of her as well.  I had the CD in the car at the time, so I played it for her.  I figured she’d like the song, but I hadn’t expected her to ask me to explain why it reminds me of her.  I told her I wasn’t sure I could tell her without crying, but I’d give it a try:

 

“Taylor, for most people who believe in God, like you do, there are lots of reasons to have hope.  People who believe in God usually believe that God is with them all the time, and that someday, after they die, they’ll get to meet God, and talk to God, and ask any kind of question they want to ask.

 

“People like me, we don’t have that kind of hope, as nice as it sounds.  And sometimes, it’s hard to find reasons to stay happy about what’s going on in life.  If we’re sad about something, we don’t have that magical idea to hold onto, that someday it will all be ok.  For me, when I really need it, the happiest idea I can turn to is you.  You give me more hope, love, and encouragement than anyone or anything else in my life.”

 

I Will Not Let Go, by David Bazan

When you get this message
I’ll be high above the Earth
Thinking ‘bout the promises that I keep
When I touch down in Texas
Land in Dallas/Fort Worth
I will call you up, and wake you from your sleep.
I will not let go of you

Who or what controls the fates of men
I cannot say
But I keep arriving safely home to you
And I humbly acknowledge
That I won’t always get my way
But darling, death will have to pry my fingers loose