change: going the distance

The Distance: A Song About Change

by

for Julian upon his high school graduation in 2010, from Mom

from the Out of the Grey project, A Little Light Left

The sun sets as we drive the Trace

I’ll never forget this side of your face

It’s not the same as it was

So much has changed since I met you

 

We can’t always connect what’s between us now

And these silent stretches are longer somehow

We turn the music way up loud

And wonder what the song’s about

 

And the music spans the distance

It’s our transatlanticism

 

C’mon, let’s drive along singing the same songs

Hear the wheels hum with our harmonies

Remember these, please

When you go on without me

 

Cos, yeah, we always go together now

But I know what I know: soon I’ll slow you down

Yeah, the time will come when I can’t keep up

And you’ll go on without me

 

Let the music span the distance

Of our transatlanticism

 

There’s a deer standing on the side of the road

So we stop to stare but she starts to go

She’s just so scared of what she doesn’t know

So many dangers on the road

 

Now we’re staring at that last bridge

And it feels like the Atlantic

Let the music span the distance

When you go on without me

Read the story behind this song in “Change: Going the Distance”

8 thoughts on “The Distance: A Song About Change”

  1. letting go of my son Sherman was tuff, he moved to Albuquerque n got married, had so many crazy emotions, i just let them be….great song, can def relate….thx 4 sharing…

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  2. I’ve always loved this song of yours, and now I know the back story I love it even more! Thanks for sharing the story and the photographs. PS Do you have a special grandmother name?? Mine is Nonny! I got my first at 46 and now they are 16, 14, and 12. Talk about change….wait are those tears welling up????

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    • Hey Nonny, I’m hoping to be called Nonna when Asher starts talking! Thanks for reading and saying hello, Charlotte ( :

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  3. I don’t remember dreading any of my children growing up and moving out. I enjoyed watching them walk into adulthood. But I did find that our common love of music and conversation and hugs and whatever else connected us, helped my teens and I to understand each other, to not let go of our relationships even when they were strained in those tough years. That was what I got out of the song the first few times I heard it. I was reminded of the times when one of my kids would share a song with me that they loved and I would put it on my iPod and sing it along with them.
    Sometimes, one of my teens would surprise me when they would tell me who their favorite artist was, and it would be someone among our old LP’s that deeply ministered to them. So, I would make sure I played that music when we got in the car often enough for it to soothe their bothered souls.

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  4. Deeply powerful song, Mrs. Dente that poignantly tells the truth that these children were born to outrun us and not need us which is exactly what successful parenting looks like. But it is your acknowledgment that by the Grace of God there is a shared transatlanticism allowed us – whether it is music or whatever that still spans the distance.

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