I’m Doing Fine

[Verse 1]
Dear Ma and Pa
Hope this finds you
By that cracked back door
In those same two chairs
Still got clay on your boots
Red dust in your hair
I can see our clothesline
Swaying in the evening air
[Chorus]
I’m doing fine, don’t you worry
Got a bed that ain’t made of springs and wire
There’s a desk with my name on the roster board
And a library that climbs up higher and higher
I eat three times a day, the roof don’t leak
There’s a coat that keeps me warm come winter time
I know we scraped and prayed for every dime
But Ma, Pa, I’m doing fine
[Verse 2]
They talk real fast here
Use big long words
Sometimes I just listen
And don’t say a thing
But there’s a girl from the next state
Says I sound like home
When I laugh too loud
And my vowels all cling
[Chorus]
I’m doing fine, don’t you worry
Got my books all stacked by this borrowed light
There’s a job in the kitchen that feeds me too
And I study till they turn out the lamps at night
I walk past brick and glass and ivy walls
Thinking how that old barn still leans on pine
I miss that road of ruts and rusty signs
But Ma, Pa, I’m doing fine
[Bridge]
Tell little sis that cap and gown
Ain’t just for folks from the richer side of town
Tell my brothers I carry our name
Every time that professor calls it out loud (hey)
[Chorus]
I’m doing fine, so don’t you worry
Every step feels like it’s yours and mine
All those patched up coats and skipped hot meals
Built a stairway that I’m finally starting to climb
Someday I’ll drive back up that gravel lane
New tires turning where your hands made mine
We’ll sit and laugh beneath that clothesline sky
And I’ll say, “We made it”
But till that time
Ma, Pa, I’m doing fine

country, Warm 80s country band, male vocals; gently strummed acoustic and clean telecaster twang over a soft two-step groove, brushed snare and light pedal steel. Verses stay intimate and story-focused, chorus swells with rich harmonies and organ pad. Energy arcs from tender, homesick calm into a quietly triumphant, tear-in-the-eye lift on each chorus.