Oh, my child 30 years today
You came into my life
And everything changed
If there's one thing I tried to teach you
Girl, don't you waste your time
Come this September
You'll be somebody's wife

I won't paint a picture
Of what you want to see
Love is the harder times
Take it from me

I would run down the lane
And into the night
Run so fast I swear my feet would fly
Run from my babies asleep in their beds
Run from my lover and my best friend
And back again

All of this courage
I've tried so hard to hold on to
Ever since that day
You and your brother left for school
They say just over that hill
The fog rolled in
Come quick doctor
We think somebody's been killed

I have been a healer
Of other people's pain
I know sometimes you don't like
The ways I've changed

But the smell of the world came into my lungs
The sound of the gravel when my legs went numb
And my heart nearly burst right out of my chest
And it felt so good to know I wasn't dead