I wrote the majority of this song in my head, fourteen years ago when I was driving cross-country in a big rig. My oldest son Gabe was just a little guy in those days, and I had recently returned from a military tour of duty in Afghanistan. I found myself on coast to coast runs, gone for 10 days at a time, spending more time behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler than I did at home. There weren’t a lot of options and it was what had to be done to support our family. But it was hard for a little boy to understand why his dad had to be gone so much, especially after I had just come home from a year in Afghanistan. All he wanted to do was play catch with his dad, and all I wanted to do was play catch with him. I would say goodbye, report to work again, and we’d be on the move. Every mile in the other direction was like a dagger in my heart, knowing that little guy was standing in the front yard alone with his ball glove and that old worn out baseball, watching down the road to see when my truck would appear from over the hill. 

On one of those trips, somewhere heading back east bound–I’m thinking it was maybe Kansas or west Texas, driving the ninja shift at around 4:00 in the morning and missing my boy so bad that I could barely breathe, this song started to take shape in my head. I’m pretty sure that by the time I hit Little Rock I had it mostly complete. I never truly finished it or managed to find the right melody to make it work out loud, but it seared into the hard drive of my brain, minus a few lines that just never would come. 

Fast forward to the times we are living in. In the spring of 2020, a dear friend of mine mentioned the thought of better days ahead–and the words to this song flooded back into my head. I realized that the message was so important for where we need to be focusing right now. I decided to dust it off and take another run at it. This time the unfinished words came quickly and I found a melody that I loved as much as the words. The whole song came together pretty quickly, and what came out of it was raw, and real–just like the story behind it. 

I also found that, with my only daughter’s wedding approaching (May of the same year), the song’s relevance to our family only deepened. As I watched her step out into the world and begin a life of her own, I thought of all that she endured with a father that was so often separated by time and distance. I smiled at her quiet strength and gave thanks for an amazing bond and love that had endured through it all. Molly and I danced to Better Days at her wedding for our “Daddy-Daughter Dance”.  That same summer her brother, Gabe, entered the U.S. military and started a career of his own. In many ways it is a full circle story–or at least one with a bittersweet smile from a loving dad.  

To find the occasion to finish this song and see it connect for so many people has been a great gift to me. I know where the pain points are in this song–I have lived them. But I also know the value in hope and faith. And that is the true message here. Staying focused and working toward better days–that is the path that truly carries us forward in the best of ways, to the brightest of futures. I have faith in my family, faith in my God and this great nation, and a genuine peace and resolve in my heart that we will endure and find our way forward to better days.