The People I Love

It was 1989ish. I was oblivious to my mullet-like hair and buck teeth; fully present in the fun of summer with my cousins. In June, the whole family would come "home" to my grandmother's farm for extended family time. Most of us kids didn't live in the country, so farm life brought welcomed freedom and new opportunities for make-believe. Our grandmother was happy for us to explore and play, especially outside, since that meant we were far away from the beautiful breakables in her formal dining room!

Jane and I were only six months apart and were surrounded by bookends of boys on either side of our birth order. One day we were out playing in the pasture with our younger cousin Ben, when all of a sudden the whole herd of Black Angus cows turned and stampeded toward us! Fear rushed through our little bodies as we ran for our lives. Just then, two of our older cousins swooped in to save the day. Patrick played matadore to distract the cows, while Nathan caught up to us, scooped up little Ben, and got us all over the fence to safety. We all laugh about it now, but that day could have been tragic if not for the sacrificial love of family.

I have a core belief that we weren't meant to do life alone. We need people and I believe God gives them to us as a gift. With every passing year my heart becomes more deeply saturated with gratitude for the family that loves me and that I get to love. That doesn't mean we don't have our differences or that it's always easy to love each other. It just makes the choice we make to love a sweeter gift because it's a decision of freewill.

In my recently released song, "That Is Home," the opening verse says:

"home is where the heart is, the old saying goes, and I know it's true because of the people I love." We may not have the farmhouse anymore, but we've got each other, and that's more than enough to treasure.