Music has always been a part of my life.  In the late 70’s and 80’s it was Rock.  AC/DC, Van Halen, Rush, Styx, Sammy Hagar, Judas Priest etc…  In the 90’s it was more of the new music like Collective Soul, Nirvana, Sublime with some Country thrown in.  The 2000’s saw me going more Country and late 60’s/70’s music.  When the 2010’s hit I migrated more to what we call Texas Country or Red Dirt Country.  Artists like Cory Morrow, Pat Green, Roger Creager, 1100 Springs, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jason Boland etc.  I still gravitate to that music today.  My wife doesn’t care for it since a lot of it does talk about drinking and bars.  However, there is a lot of it that I think fits in with sobriety when you really listen to it.  I heard a song this morning on my way to my 9am meeting that brought tears to my eyes.  It is by Pat Green, off his Home album.  The song is called “While I was Away”.  The song is really about people, men and women, who are away from home for work and miss their kids growing up.  Before the first verse was over, my thoughts turned to drinking being my work.  How much I missed over the last 10 years of my amazing daughter’s life by drinking.  Sure I was there physically.  Mentally and spiritually, nope, not at all.  🙁  I tear up even now writing this.  I wasn’t there for her in some of her most important times growing up as a young woman.  Now she is 22 years old and getting close to finishing college.  I wish I could go back and fix the mistakes I made.  I know I can’t.  All I can do is not make the same mistakes going forward and not regret or shut the door on the past.  My thoughts and other songs that touch my heart and soul will be following this in additional posts.

Here are the lyrics and the song itself.

By the time I made it home, you were already in bed
Chubby cheek pressed to your a pillow
By a bedtime book you read
And I noticed that you looked older than you did yesterday
You’ve been growing up while I was away

You made a pile of leaves in the front yard
I guess it’s already fall
By the look of those pictures your mama took
The two of you had a ball
And It made me glad but a little sad
To see those games you played
I missed a lot of smiles while I was away

And for every dollar I earn there’s a lesson
You learn without me there
And every day I’m on the go
I’m praying that you know your daddy cared
Cause the hardest part about working hard
Ain’t about the bills I gotta pay
It’s you growing up while I was away

And I found your note in the kitchen
It’s a real work of art
A stick man holding your stick hand
With “Daddy” written in a heart
And it got me good cause I’ve understood
What you meant to say
You’ve been missing me too while I was away
And for every dollar I earn
There’s a lesson you learn without me there
And every day I’m on the go
I’m praying that you know your daddy cared
Cause the hardest part about working hard
Ain’t about the bills I gotta pay
It’s you growing up while I was away

You know the hardest part about working hard
Ain’t the bills I gotta pay
It’s everything I missed while I was away