It makes me think of Lori McKenna's fairly new album. I've been listening to it this week even though I downloaded it forever ago and forgot all about it. It came out in January! So typical. It is called "Lorraine" and one of the songs is called "The Most" and like so much of her song writing it resonates soundly because she has a house full of children (5) at vastly varying stages in that long, short stretch to adulthood. In this song she also writes about "pieces of paper that I'll get back to later, I'll write you a story how I ended up here" which pretty much sums up how I feel about my whole work life and our financial sustenence in one phrase(although it applies equally to the amount of paper that it takes to run a household and all that school stuff and church stuff that comes home week in and week out that you never finish wading through). She lives in a small town, married young and is still married, like me and that is what she writes about. Most of her songwriting makes me cry big happy (and sad) tears at the messiness of it all and the chaos out of which come those moments that absolutely slay and bring me to my knees for the beauty of it all. But it really IS the little things in the chaos that bring what matters into focus, and Lori gets that better than any songwriter I can think of. Not just on this song. I don't always love how she arranges things but her words are one of those little things for me like that new shelf in the bathroom and the way my husband looks at me every once in a while like he understands my high expectations (cue "I'm Not Crazy" on "Unglamorous" - also Lori McKenna, 2007).
(And don't even think about listening to the last track on "Lorraine" if you have lost someone central to your life unless you want to be a big puddle on the floor. It is the most beautifully arranged song on there in my opinion but I have not listened to it once without crying big, sloppy tears).
xo
Can I get an Amen?
Lyrics:
My life is a grocery store line
A "We'll be just fine"
Don't know how we survive, but we do
My life is an early spring snow
The last thread of hope
That I just keep hanging on to
My life is pieces of paper that I'll get back to later
I'll write you a story, how I ended up here
How the little things make us and how long it takes us
To figure out what matters the most. . . . .
My life is a two dollar beer
Friday nights here
With friends that I've known since high school
My life is an order to go
A rainy car ride back home
And someone you love to lay next to
My Life is pieces of paper that I'll get back to later
I'll write you a story, how I ended up here
How the little things make us and how long it takes us
To figure out what matters the most . . . . .
Someday well I'll look back and wonder
Someday comes around quicker than they told you
Asking "Did I do, what I was suppose to"
In my Life
Don't know Why the little things make us and sometimes it takes us
To damn long to figure what matters the most . . . .
My life is green grass through the snow
A sweet reckless hope
And baby I know...what matters the most
