I'm bringing gratitude into my morning

Gratitude is so important and the older I become, the more I realize how important it is to incorporate it into my daily life. It's so easy to be distracted and focused on what goes wrong and what we want and can't or don't have. But to be grateful for all of the blessings that we do have is far more important.

This is my attempt to document the attempt to bring much more gratitude into my life.

Ahead and Grateful



[Verse 1]

Sixty-three and still punchin' the clock,

Mortgage on the table, hands on the plow.

One kid's still in the books, the other's out working,

Time moves different than it did back somehow.

Catskill ridge line out my kitchen window,

Same view that's held me twenty years or more.

Car payment's due, the coffee's gettin' cold,

But I'm still standing at this open door.

[Pre-Chorus]

Forty-one years with the same woman's hand in mine,

She's dreaming paint and clay while I'm counting time.

We're working toward a softer kind of life,

Still climbing, still believing, still husband and wife.

[Chorus]

(horns swell in)

So I'm bringing gratitude into my mornings,

Into the mountain, into the mortgage, into the mess.

I don't know all of what's still coming,

But I know what I've been blessed.

Every ache in these old shoulders,

Every mile behind this chest —

I'm bringing gratitude into my living,

'Cause I've been given the best.

[Verse 2]

No grandkids running through the yard just yet,

Some days that silence gets a little loud.

But healthy hands, a heart that still keeps rhythm,

And a woman who still makes me proud.

No crystal ball to show me what tomorrow's made of,

Just this house, this hill, this life we've built.

Some folks chase what they don't have,

I'm learning to stand still in what I've got.

[Pre-Chorus]

Forty-one years, we've weathered every storm,

Now we're dreaming up a life a little more her own.

I'll work these hands till the day that we let go,

Watching her turn worry into something whole.

[Chorus]

(horns full, harmonies stacked)

So I'm bringing gratitude into my mornings,

Into the mountain, into the mortgage, into the mess.

I don't know all of what's still coming,

But I know what I've been blessed.

Every ache in these old shoulders,

Every mile behind this chest —

I'm bringing gratitude into my living,

'Cause I've been given the best.

[Instrumental Solo]

(acoustic guitar and horn section trade phrases, rhythm section drives, building energy)

[Bridge]

(stripped back — just guitar and voice, harmonies enter low)

Maybe the mountain don't need me to know

What's waiting 'round the bend.

Maybe it's enough to just look at her

And call this good again.

Two kids raised right, a roof that's ours,

A view that don't cost a thing —

Lord, if this is all there is,

I'll take the whole damn thing.

[Final Chorus]

(full band, horns, harmonies, biggest lift)

So I'm bringing gratitude into my mornings,

Into the mountain, into the mortgage, into the mess.

I don't know all of what's still coming,

But I know what I've been blessed.

Every ache in these old shoulders,

Every mile behind this chest —

I'm bringing gratitude into my living,

'Cause I've been given, I've been given,

Lord, I've been given the best.

[Outro]

(acoustic guitar alone, fading, one last harmony line)

Still not sure what's ahead of me,

But I like what's standing here.

This is original work is produced by AK Darvinson with a combination of observation, critical thinking, insight, heart, compassion, passion, creativity, and technology. All rights are reserved. Free sharing is encouraged. Commercial use via license only.