As a way to introduce the new records, I am writing blog posts going song by song to give you some insight into the writing, recording, production and story of each of the songs. Here is the first installment of the songs from Family Man.
Song By Song – Ready For The Change
It was 2012. Reeling from the loss of my grandfather, my dad’s dad, right before Thanksgiving, we approached Christmas with a heavy heart and a joy-filled hope. Mary was pregnant with our first child. The dream of moving back closer to our family was to start a family of our own, and it seemed that dream was coming true. It was very early on, but we decided to make the announcement to our families at Christmas. We were, perhaps, a bit too naive. But, we had a little “peanut” as the ultrasound technician had called the baby, and we knew the announcement of a grandchild on the way would be a boon to our family.
When we went for the next ultrasound, there was silence where there should have been the sound of a heartbeat. We were crushed, confused, angry – all of the emotions. Mary had to have a procedure to clear out the remnants of the precious life we had already fallen in love with. I remember it was raining as we walked to the car to go to the hospital. As if we hadn’t cried enough tears, Heaven was crying for us too.
Nothing ever replaces that loss. I still find myself thinking about Peanut from time to time, the wonder of a life cut short. Though the long-term loss always remains, the short-term sadness was relieved later that summer when we found out Mary was pregnant again. Some of the likely issues that affected the previous pregnancy were now known and addressed. In between those two events, I wrote a song for Mary to try to help heal our hearts and to look with hope to what we both prayed the Lord would do for us.
The first verse tells the story of our wedding day. Mary was, and still is, so incredibly beautiful. The commitment of marriage is a big deal, especially when you view it in light of the covenant between Christ and His Church. The love and commitment that takes Jesus to the cross is the love and commitment we’re called to in marriage. Couple that with hoping that Mary doesn’t realize how low she’s stooping, and I was pretty nervous. Then, they opened the doors, and I saw her in that dress. It was amazing. She was amazing! All of the emotion swelling up inside me exploded. I burst into tears. Typing these words makes me emotional. The years that followed were full of their ups and downs, joys and sorrows, smooth and flat paths and rocky and mountainous climbs. But I truly believe they were all a preparation for what was to come.
The second verse contains some tongue-in-cheek lines, drawing some cues and inspiration from Jill Phillips and Andy Gullahorn’s “How Precious Life Is”. Perhaps my favorite line of all comes in the bridge. Let me put it lightly and say that Mary is NOT a morning person. So, I joked that our kids would probably love the morning. God obviously has a sense of humor because both boys wake up early every morning, and, when they wake up, they are awake!
Enter Pat Lawrence! I mentioned Pat and Martha Bassett in my blog for “Let’s Fall In Love Again”. I first played a full band show with Pat on the upright bass back in 2015 thanks to Lee Hatling. Pat then introduced me to his partner, Martha. They’ve had me be a part of the Roots Revival service at Centenary United Methodist Church here in Winston-Salem a couple of times, and I was fortunate to be a part of the Martha Bassett Show at the historic Reeves Theater in Elkin back in 2018 and again just a week ago. I love playing with Pat, and he has always been supportive of my music. Since I wanted to keep the production on this one simple, it was a natural fit to have Pat play the upright for this one. Pat is the only other musician on this track. I did the hand percussion parts, so don’t blame Larry for the poor quality of those!!
Check back in a few days as I continue to go song by song with “2+1=3”.
