Why I don’t drink

Mama left one night, said she’d fax and be right back

But that line went dead, and she never came back

I was eight years old, raising kids that weren’t mine

With a stepdad who drank and a world outta line

She called years later, said she’s dating Kid Rock

Said she was twenty-three—time don’t stop

Ten years in the dirt ‘fore I found she passed

Guess that’s the cost when the drugs come fast

⸻

So don’t hand me a bottle, don’t toast my name

I’ve seen what it does, I don’t play that game

I made it out breathing, I won’t lose it that way

So when you ask me why—I just say:

This is why I don’t drink.

⸻

Stepdad loved Bud, never loved me much

Fed us raw dogs and spoonfuls of crust

Adopted me for that government pay

But I paid the price in bruises every day

Said I looked like her, so I caught the wrath

Mayonnaise wrong? He’d tear me in half

King Cobra nights, fists would fly

Told school I tripped, they’d just nod and sigh

⸻

So don’t hand me a bottle, don’t toast my name

I’ve seen what it does, I don’t play that game

I made it out breathing, I won’t lose it that way

So when you ask me why—I just say:

This is why I don’t drink.

⸻

At sixteen, I packed my past and ran

Had a knife in my heart and a plan in my hand

Thought about ending him, but I chose me

Walked away instead and finally felt free

Now I got a wife, kids, and a dream I built

Got scars that remind me, but no more guilt

I don’t need a shot to feel alive

I got everything I need just watching my babies thrive

⸻

It ain’t what they did, it’s what I became

A man who broke out of a house of pain

Built a life, a legacy, and beat the odds

Ain’t no whiskey worth trading what I got

⸻

So don’t hand me a bottle, don’t toast my name

I’ve seen what it does, I don’t play that game

I made it out breathing, I won’t lose it that way

So when you ask me why—I just say:

This is why I don’t drink.