daughter

Life is the Way You Make It

April 29, 2024 — 2 Comments

This year I started a new songwriting routine – I take my coffee and my laptop into my tiny basement studio, and work on songwriting for 30-40 minutes before I leave for work at 7 am. I’m not writing and recording and posting a song a week like I used to, but a surprising amount of writing is actually happening. I recently did a batch recording session of four songs I wrote in March and April, and today I uploaded one to my Youtube channel. More to come as time allows!

This one was written for my daughter.

Beautiful girl don’t be afraid of this world
This solid ground that keeps on spinning you around
In spite of what you might be told you should know
Nobody ever gets everything figured out

Life is the way you make it
Love is a road, I hope you take it
Wherever it keeps leading your courageous heart

Bold brilliant woman you break through like the dawn
Lighting the room with your inventive energy
Calming your anxious thoughts with your steadfast soul
Finding the words that tell the truth and set you free

Life is the way you make it
Love is a road, I hope you take it
Wherever it keeps leading your courageous heart

Climb on amazing human precious and tough
Don’t let them tell you it’s all over when you fall
You’ve learned the ropes so you know one’s not enough
To meet all the challenges and joys up on the wall

Life is the way you make it
Love is a road, I hope you take it
Wherever it keeps leading your courageous heart

Pretty Baby

April 21, 2016 — 2 Comments

I wasn’t planning on having children. Actually, I was planning on not having children. Until my now-firstborn, now-twelve-year-old, first made herself known. That extra pink line on the plastic strip might as well have been an angel, and I would have benefited from the routine angelic greeting, “do not be afraid.” I admit I cried myself to sleep that night, but it seems I always take a night to freak out before changing my plans in any major way. Sometimes even the sweetest surprises are first met with salty tears.

And now, we are two-thirds of the way to that tiny baby’s high school graduation.

Week 15 of #songaweek2016 included an extra challenge, to write a song in the form of a recipe. I already felt like writing a song about my daughter, so I found a way to squeeze it into recipe form too.

Take a smidgen of him and a dash of me
Bake for nine months at ninety-eight point six degrees
Then when my body feels like it’s about to break
It’s time to open up and meet my babycake

Pretty baby pretty baby with her daddy’s eyes
Pretty baby pretty baby mama’s sweetest surprise

Give liberal breastfuls of milk to my sugar and spice
Try not to scream the first time she bites
Blend up some squash and put it on a teaspoon
Pretend it’s on a mission and she’s the moon

Pretty baby pretty baby with her daddy’s eyes
Pretty baby pretty baby mama’s sweetest surprise

In a medium class combine her with twenty kids
Sift through all her papers and art projects
Roll out chores and charts so she gets her work done
But ditch the cookie cutters, let her make her own fun

Pretty baby pretty baby with her daddy’s eyes
Pretty baby pretty baby mama’s sweetest surprise

Sometimes my little sweet gets a little saucy
Sometimes she flames up like bananas foster
Then I let her settle

Let her sweetness age, let her take her time
Gotta wait patiently for the finest wine
Then however she decides to pour herself out
She’ll outsparkle all I’ve dreamed about

Pretty baby pretty baby with her daddy’s eyes
Pretty baby pretty baby mama’s sweetest surprise