It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away

I took a walk the other day. Took some time to slow the pace down and clear my head. I walked all around my old neighborhood, my old school, the park I used to play in. And I got some perspective. Because as I walked around those places I used to live, it all dawned on me. I'm going to graduate from high school. I'm going to go to college, go on a mission. I'm going to come home and and my life is going to continue. I'm going to get married to the love of my life, and we're going to be happy together no matter what. We're going to have beautiful children together. I'm going to walk them to school on their first day, and I'm going to teach them to play ball, and I'm going to help them with their homework. Then someday we're going to take a vacation to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sousa out in Utah. And while we're there visiting I'm going to to tell my kids to load up into the car because there was something I wanted to show to them. And then I'm going to drive down where I was walking, where I used to live. I'm going to say "You see that? that was my old apartment where I grew up. That window there? that's where my room was, I used to watch cars drive down the street all day. See this? My friends and I would race our bikes here all the time."
Then I'll turn to my youngest son and say "Tiger, there used to be a tree there that you would've loved to climb. I know I did."
"How high was it?"
"All the way to the roof. And, my little Princess, guess what; there was only one girl on this street and so my friends and I would always attack her Barbies with our GI Joes, and then she'd always try and get them married."
"That's silly, Daddy."
"And over there was my friends house where we used to pick raspberries and eat them until we were sick."
And then I'm going to drive to antoher place and tell them stories about that too.
"And do you see that? My best friend grwoing up used to live there, we don't talk anymore though. Why not? Well, in high school, things changed. Girls became more important. But that's normal."
And then I'm going to tell them more stories about me growing up, and my wife is going to smile because she'll know how much this means to me.

And then we're going to leave. We're going to go back home. My kids are going to grow up. And I'm going to do my best to make their life easier than mine was. I'll dry her tears when her boyfriend breaks her heart. And I'll go watch him play baseball just like I taught him. And I'm going to watch them graduate with honors. Then, one day, my oldest boy is going to find the girl of his dreams and decide he wants to marry her. And on that day I'm going to take him aside and I'm going to tell him how lucky he is. How wonderful she is. And tell him all the things that I know will help him. I'm going to cry, and I'm going to tell him I love him and I am always proud of him. And life will be beautiful.

I've made some mistakes, but I've done everything right.

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The heart is a bloom
Shoots up through the stony ground
But there's no room
No space to rent in this town
You're out of luck
And the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck
And you're not moving anywhere
You thought you'd found a friend
To take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand
In return for grace

It's a beautiful day
The sky falls and you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road
But you've got no destination
You're in the mud
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over
And it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light, and
See the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now
It was a beautiful day