Enjoy the ride

After feeling a bit frustrated with my kids one day, it suddenly hit me how temporary all these childhood stages are. Just as when they were infants and I felt I would never sleep a full night again, sometimes it seems like life will always be this chaotic. But then I realize that in only a few short years they will finish school and will be adults getting started on their own lives. So then I decided to take a deep breath and focus on enjoying this time while I still have them all home.

I’m embracing my minivan days
Before they pack up and drive away
They may be messy, they may be wild
Someday I’m gonna look back at today and smile

Some days I have to remind myself this more than others.

Days are long, but the years fly by
You can’t flash forward and you can’t rewind
The world keeps spinning, I’m holding on tight
Gonna fasten my seatbelt and enjoy the ride

The second verse is about having an idealized view of how parenthood should be and how difficult it is to reach those expectations.

I’ve been chasing storybook dreams
With expectations hanging over me
I may be restless and running behind
They say one day I’ll reminisce about this time

It all goes so quickly.

From the stroller to the trike,
Training wheels come off the bike
Soon they’ll drive away

Ultimately, I decided, it’s about your own attitude. Either you can get frustrated when they don’t listen or do things differently than the way you’d like them to do or you can accept the fact that parenting is challenging and look at it as a learning experience for everyone – and, if you’re lucky, you’ll even enjoy most of it.

Songwriting journey

When I brought this song into the songwriting workshop, the first response was that it’s a “mom song” and would probably not be a choice for radio play. However, somebody said it might work for a minivan commercial.

Moving forward

I’m writing this post on my 50th birthday and I’m now caught up to real-time. I’ve written posts about the songs I’ve written for the past few years, although I haven’t included them all, and moving forward, will be able to write more in the present.

At the songwriting sessions I attend, the big question for each song is “What is your goal for this song?” For me, it’s usually just to write a better song each time, as opposed to writing a song for radio or for a particular artist.

What is my goal for this blog?

Mainly to share my songs for anyone who is willing to listen (and read.) Perhaps it will inspire somebody. At the very least, maybe when my kids are older, maybe they’ll be interested in learning more about the songs they heard me singing around the house (assuming that this blog/technology won’t be completely outdated by then and they’ll have access to it.)

Perhaps I’m feeling a little bit melancholy today. As my dad pointed out, I’m now a half-century old. My mom died from pancreatic cancer less than two months after she turned 52 years old. So there’s that, too.

We’re in the week between school and camp so I took the week off to be with my kids, two of whom fought most of this morning, which makes this “Enjoy the Ride” song particularly poignant today.

So, let’s close with one more round of the chorus:

Days are long, but the years fly by
You can’t flash forward and you can’t rewind
The world keeps spinning, I’m holding on tight
Gonna fasten my seatbelt and enjoy the ride.